Gabrielle Martin

The story for "Poppy's Flying Adventure" came to me one day eight years ago as I was walking my first child in his pram in the Malmsbury Botanical Gardens in central Victoria. As an artist I usually work in oil paint, but  I had recently moved from Melbourne to the country and temporarily had no studio.  I was immersed in my first child's complex special needs. Although my son is non-verbal, I could see how profoundly he responded to stories, especially ones with strong rhyme and rhythm, and it was a great joy and solace to explore these with him. I also remembered how formative the books I had as a child had been for me, especially ones that were beautifully illustrated. The really good ones stayed with me, nurturing my creativity and my feeling for nature and the wonder of life.  I was inspired to begin playing around with watercolour at night after my boy had gone to sleep. A very happy year followed as I created and worked on "Poppy". The pictures flowed easily but the text was more challenging, as I felt sure it should be written in rhyme and that is hard to get really right. I wrote to some well-known children's authors and received invaluable constructive advice. I  was on an amazing learning curve,  but I ended up shelving "Poppy" when I began painting and exhibiting again.  However, 7 years later, after illustrating a friend's book, I took it down again and realised how important "Poppy" is to me and that I needed to finish the book. So, here I am after another year's work and close consultation with some very talented friends, finally finished and really proud of the book!

I am so pleased to be able to share with you a book that I would want to buy for my children - a warm and playful story with a feisty female character, that celebrates the beauty of nature, mysterious adventures, individual resilience and friendships created in unexpected circumstances.

A synopsis of the book

This is how the funds will be spent:
$2100 : printing 250 copies of "Poppy's Flying Adventure" in Australia on beautiful recycled 100% carbon neutral paper. 
$400 : postage.
$250 : designer's fees
$210 : printing cards 
$240 : Pozible and bank fees 

The book has been written, illustrated and designed, so there should be no real obstacles to the success of the project other than raising sufficient funds through Pozible.