Authors of The Adventures of Jellybean Dianne Bates and Bill Condon are both award-winning writers in their own rights but would love to be jointly nominated for the next CBAA Book of the Year.

“It has a multicultural element because the [main character’s] best friend is a Vietnamese child,” Bates said. “It’s not usual to a find a book at this age group that has anything about the migrant experience.”

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The novel is aimed at boys aged six and to ten and follows the story of Rory and Trang who become the proud owners of a nanny goat, who turns out to be quite a handful.

The idea was sparked by Bates’ childhood memories of growing up on a goat farm, and the story harks back to a simpler time.

“Unlike many books for children these days which deal with horror and all things out-of-this world and gruesome, this is a cheerful best-mate book with two boys who care for one another, their loved ones, and for their goat,” she said.

“It’s a feel-good family story, no-one gets shot in it,” quips Condon.

The duo have only written eight books together, though between them have had hundreds of books published over the years.

Despite this, they say it is still a tough game to get a manuscript published – sometimes having to send a book to multiple publishers before getting a bite.

“There are so many writers now. When we started off there were far fewer writers, we’re both lucky,” Condon said.

“You need to have a pitching proposal which basically looks at the market and what competition is available,” added Bates.

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The Adventures of Jellybean was released this month by University of Queensland Press who will also enter it into the CBAA annual awards. The shortlist for 2018 will be announced early next year.

Teachers’ notes which accompany the book and capture the national curriculum are available at uqp.com.au.