Sandy Fussell loves words,
numbers and the internet. She lives on the NSW south coast with her family, a
Scottish deerhound and four cats, one of which likes to eat manuscript pages.
She has been awarded four CBCA notables, with
Polar Boy shortlisted for a Younger Readers CBCA Book of the Year, 2009,
the Sakura Medal in Japan, an International IBBY Award, and her picture book Sad the Dog, was praised in the New York
Times.
Her books are published in Australia, the UK, the US and Asia. Sandy is often found in a school library wielding her Samurai Kids books or teaching a Minecraft-based writing workshop.
Which children’s book are you
currently reading?
I
have just finished reading Claire Saxby’s Haywire.
Can you tell us in two
sentences what the book is about?
The
book is historical fiction told from the perspective of two young boys – about
12 years old. Tom is the son of a baker
in Hay, NSW. His older brothers have left for war and he has to forgo the
opportunity of an academic scholarship to help his father in the bakery.
Max
is a Polish refugee who escaped to England ahead of Hitler’s invasion. His
parents sent him to live with his Uncle. They have been incorrectly transported
to Australia for incarceration as German ‘aliens’. Max and Tom become friends
when Tom delivers bread to the camp. Max escapes hoping to go home, and Rom
helps him only to realise he has put Max in danger, alone in the Australian
bush. I don’t want to spoil the ending but it is a positive, hopeful one.
How much did you enjoy/are
enjoying this title?
From
the first few pages this book hit me hard. The story begins with Tom’s two
older brothers announcing at the dinner table they have joined up to fight in
the war. Not in the home militia. They’re going overseas. There is a silence
and Tom’s youngest sister, not even old enough for school, says, but people get killed in war. It took me
back to one of my vivid childhood memories. Although I was a good student, my
childhood was pre-internet and my parents were not readers. Until high school I
never had access to a library. There I was seduced by science fiction and
fantasy and ancient history. I had little knowledge of the world wars or
Australia’s participation.
It
was Year 8 History and the teacher was explaining conscription. I was stunned.
Older people voted to send people who were too young to vote, to war to die. My
innocence crashed. I had believed the world was fair, governments were just and
Australia was a good place.
The
story was something that immediately interested me. Max and Tom were genuine
and believable. There’s lots of Australiana, lots of action and wonderful
descriptive writing. Like this sentence which describes Hay as a flat-out town in a flat-out country at the
intersection of two roads on the way to other places.
There
was a bonus at the end when the ‘aliens’ were released and the camp was to be
the home for Japanese prisoners of war. My first book in many years, Red Day, is based on a backdrop of the
Cowra Prisoner of War Camp breakout. The final straw that tripped the breakout
was the Camp decided to send the enlisted Japanese men to Hay and the Japanese
officers considered it unacceptable and dishonourable to be separated from
their men.
What made you choose this
title? Was it a review, advertising, the cover, the blurb, the
author/illustrator, or the subject/genre?
When
I first started writing, I had an immediate connection with three other authors
who were being published with Walker Book around the same time – Sally Murphy,
Sue Whiting and Claire Saxby. In March/April we all had new books and a
Messenger conversation brought us together. We decided what we could do to
support each other with the restraints COVID-19 brought to book promotion. I
had read Worse Things, Sally’s
terrific verse novel with the wonderful unignorable cover. Sue’s The
Book of Chance and Claire’s Haywire were
in my reading pile. I picked up Claire’s first because it just happened to be
sitting on top. The Book of Chance is
next.
What other titles are on your
bedside table /To Read Pile?
These
are the first ten – The Book of Chance
by Sue Whiting, The Threads of Magic
by Alison Croggin and The Power of
Positive Pranking by Nat Amoore.
How did you come by these
titles: personal choice/request, publisher’s review copy, or other?
I
am so lucky to have at least one wonderful children’s book delivered to my door
every day. I’m the children’s book reviewer for the Sunday Telegraph Funday
section which has a published readership of 836,000. Publishers are keen to
have their books reviewed there even though the reviews are very short and I do
my best to share the love around.
Do you have a favourite genre?
If so, what is it, and why do you prefer it?
I
read all genres, but my favourite is fantasy. I came to fantasy because the
books were so thick and I’m a fast reader. With adult books, I either want
something complicated to slow me down or something wildly imaginative that
lasts a long time. I love that anything can happen in fantasy. Australia has so
many wonderful adult, kids and YA fantasy authors. I’d like to recommend Alison
Croggin, Margo Lanagan, Trudi Canavan, Karen Brooks, Garth Nix, Duncan Lay,
Kate Forsyth, Jessica Townsend, Jay Kristoff and Amy Kaufmann (together and
individually), Cate Whittle and Meg McKinlay. Many of these are so talented they
write other genres too.
Do you read from printed books
or some other medium? Please expand a little on the why of your choice.
I’m
old-school. I like the weight of a book in my hand. I like the smell of the
pages. And I like seeing the spines on my bookshelf. I’ve since discovered that
for kids and YA readers that’s the norm too. I tried reading on my iPad but I
work at a screen all day and reading wasn’t relaxing in front of yet another
screen. I’m not a good sleeper. Screens keep you awake at night but a book
helps you drift into dreams.
Website:
www.sandyfussell.com
Twitter:
@sandyfussell