Katrina Roe

Katharina Colmer, me, Katrina Roe, Debra Tidball and Penny Reeve

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)

This was Monkey's first book launch. Monkey isn't usually allowed to leave the house at all, but it's a sequel to his favourite book, so we made an exception.

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.

Molly was hilarious!

​My little introvert actually wanted to come to a book launch for once, because Gemma gets the Jitters is about being scared of heights. Also because the first book in the series, Marty's Nut-free Party is one his favourite books. He is amazed that the series covers all his own issues - allergies, asthma and fear of heights. He wondered what issue might be covered next ... smoking??? He can't understand why this made me laugh.