A life of adventure often warrants a life of storytelling.
For children’s author Susea Spray, that’s exactly what she’s done, and now she’s sharing it in the form of a children’s book, which she’ll be bringing to Goulburn Valley Libraries next month for her book tour.
Mrs Spray’s book, A Big Blue Boat, is a realistic sailing story that uses repetition, rhythm and rhyme to tell the story of how a girl, known as Captain, sails the sea.
The book is inspired by her own story of sailing around parts of the world with her husband.
In 2013, the pair set sail from Australia and travelled around areas of the world, eventually making it to Europe, where they now spend parts of the year sailing and exploring the waterways of Europe.
“The intention was, I wasn’t going to do anything about it until I reached the end of our sailing years, and then I started looking for sailing stories that were realistic for my grandchildren, especially little girls,” she said.
“I discovered there wasn’t a lot out there, and most of them are set within the imagination or dreams.
“I wanted something that was more realistic and was aimed at little girls in particular.”
A Big Blue Boat is Mrs Spray’s first published book, and already she’s an award-winning author.
She’s won the 2023 Purple Dragonfly Awards and the 2022 Literary Titan Silver Awards and was a finalist in the 2022 and 2021 Page Turner Awards for A Big Blue Boat.
She’s also a Children’s Picture Book Genre winner and has been shortlisted for the 2023 Page Turner Awards for her sequel book, Out on the Brine, which is currently being illustrated.
“It’s all blown me away because I never thought I could write something that would end up getting close to winning something,“ Mrs Spray said.
“I’ve got about 16 manuscripts in various forms of development; there’s another three completed and ready for illustration, and the others are works in progress.”
Although she is a former school teacher, Mrs Spray has never stopped being one.
When writing her books, she’s always thinking about what makes a children’s book educational yet engaging.
“When you think about people, most of us connect to music, which is why rhythm is important,” she said.
“I like books that have a rhythm to them. Rhyming is great, but the rhythm is what connects me to books, and I found when I was teaching, books that had rhythm – that was the one that really connected with the children.”
In understanding the educational purposes of reading, Mrs Spray has also designed educational resources for parents, teachers and librarians to use when reading A Big Blue Boat with children, which is aimed at ages four to eight.
To purchase the book or download one of these educational packs, visit https://suseaspray.com/
Mrs Spray will be visiting Goulburn Valley Libraries Tatura, Cobram and Avenel.
Libraries visited:
Avenel Library: Tuesday, February 13 at 10.30am
Tatura Library: Wednesday, February 14 at 10.30am
Cobram Library: Thursday, February 15 at 10.30am