When Nattaporn Sutiyawan arrived in Australia with little English two years ago she never could have imagined she would one day be involved in publishing a children’s book.
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The 17-year-old arrived with her family from Thailand, attending Warrawong High School’s Intensive English Centre before moving on to Cedars Christian College.
Her talent for drawing and a love of bright colours has seen the Year 11 student selected as an illustrator of a new picture book titled Zoo Ball, written by Australian author Aleesah Darlison.
The title follows the story of a ball that bounces around a zoo, meeting animals along the way. Publisher Wombat Books, invited school children across Australia to submit illustrations for the story, with the final 23 selected for the final published version.
Nattaporn, known as Fern by her friends, said she was excited to have her illustration feature across a double page at the end of the story.
“I have always been interested in drawing and used to study art in Thailand,” Fern said. “I would really like people to become more interested in books instead of just using technology all the time and I was very excited to find out that my art would be featured in Zoo Ball.”
“I filled the page with colourful animals and the judges loved it.”
On Tuesday Fern joined Mrs Darlison at school, speaking with fellow students about her work and signing books for younger schoolmates. Mrs Darlison has published 33 children’s books including Puggle’s Problem, Warambi, and the popular chapter book series Unicorn Riders. She said Wombat Books ran the Illustration Challenge to engage the community with books.
“Children have wonderful imaginations. The Illustration Challenge provides aspiring young illustrators with the opportunity to be published and gain an introduction into the world of illustrating,” Mrs Darlison said.
Wombat Books plan to run the competition again, this time based on another Aleesah Dalison book titled Yay! It’s Library Day, which is due for release in 2018. For competition details go to wombatbooks.com.au.