Published on 06 June 2023
New character for Storybook Walk
The next children’s book to be brought to life at Storybook Walk, at Aberfoyle Park’s Thalassa Park, will be Frog Finds a Place—a charming and beautifully illustrated tale about respecting a friendship.
Frog Finds a Place—written by Sally Morgan and Ezekial Kwaymullina, illustrated by Dub Leffler, and published by Omnibus Books—follows the dream of an ambitious frog, who wants to fly to the moon and stars to make friends.
The book was chosen by students, families, and community members across 20 schools and centres across the City of Onkaparinga, after a council-run poll, which saw Frog Finds a Place secure more than half the 1000 votes!
A sculpture immortalising the book will become the seventeenth permanent artwork to be installed at Storybook Walk, which was created by the City of Onkaparinga in 2007 and funded in partnership with the Thalassa Parks and Gardens Trust.
The much-loved walk aims to celebrate and raise the profile of Australian writers and poets and their works, by bringing characters from some of the best-loved children’s books to life.
Every two years, three books are selected, and the community is asked to vote for their favourite, with council then putting out an expression of interest to artists, inviting them to create an artwork based on the winning storybook’s central character.
Fancy Pants (written by Kelly Hibbert and illustrated by Amanda Green) was the most recent sculpture, with the Sally Wickes-created artwork unveiled in 2022.
The artist brief to create a Frog Finds a Place-inspired work is now live, with the sculpture expected to be installed in early 2024, joining the likes of Grug, Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, Storm Boy and The Dirty Dinosaur.
Stay tuned for more news about the Frog Finds a Place sculpture via Onkaparinga Now and the City of Onkaparinga Facebook page.
About author Sally Morgan
Sally Morgan is one of Australia’s best-known artists and writers. She belongs to the Palyku people from the eastern Pilbara region of Western Australia. Her widely-acclaimed first book, My Place, has sold over half-a-million copies and is one of Australia’s most celebrated works. She has published several books including biographies and children’s stories.
About author Ezekiel Kwaymullina
Ezekiel is from the Palyku people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. He is the author of several picture books, including We All Sleep (2015), Dreamers (2014) and My Country (2011),
About illustrator Dub Leffler
Descendent from the Bigambul people of South-West Queensland, Dub Leffler is one of Australia’s most sought-after illustrators of children’s literature. As well as an illustrator, Dub is the author of two children’s books and is currently illustrating his 25th title. Dub’s work has afforded him travel to places such as remote Australia, Europe, Indonesia and America, and his illustrations are in the permanent collection of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.