The highlight of the afternoon, in my opinion, was Molly, who the book is dedicated to. Katrina and Molly entertained us with a comedy routine.

​Katrina announced that we would sing some songs together before she read the book. But a few bars into 'Rock-a-bye Baby' Molly shouted, 'STOP!' The song was too scary because people would be afraid of the baby falling. 'Incy Wincy' (stop!) would scare people with a fear of spiders and 'Twinkle Twinkle' (stop!) was no good either, because some people are afraid of the dark. They eventually agreed to ignore parents' fear of getting the carpet dirty and sang 'Twinkle Twinkle Vegemite'. (if you drop it upside down, it will turn the carpet brown)

I enjoyed celebrating another friend's book launch today. Katrina Roe launched her fourth book, Gemma Gets the Jitters. 

Katrina sure knows how to put on a great launch! When we arrived there was a band playing, craft for the kids and a delicious afternoon tea. Authors Katharina Colmer and Marian McGuinness talked about writing and psychologist Collett Smart talked about how to help with kids' anxiety--very helpful! I will use all her ideas with my own kids. Some of her points which stuck with me were:
 - Never ridicule a child's fear.
 - Don't allow them to completely avoid their fears.
 - Give them gradual exposure, getting a step closer to the goal every time.
Collett has also written the parent notes at the end of the book.

Debra Tidball launched The Scared Book, her second picture book, on the weekend. Debra is such a supportive friend--she is always at friends' launches and tweeting about other people's books. This was obvious at her launch, because The Children's Bookshop was packed with authors who came to celebrate Debra's success. 

Debra is part of COW (Children's Omega Writers) and a few of us were there to cheer her on - Zoe Gaetjens, me, Penny Reeve and Katrina Roe are there in the photo on the left with Debra.
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As well as being a great friend, Debra is a fantastic author. Her first book, When I see Grandma, is a gentle story about  visiting a grandparent with Alzheimer's.

The Scared Book shows has a dramatically different tone, showing what a versatile writer Debra is. The book is scared and readers are invited to rub away goosebumps, blow away butterflies and flick away monsters. It's such a fun interactive book, which will work well with groups or individuals.