AustLit

'When Pebbles the Possum looks up from her screen, she sees the moon shining brightly outside her window. She decides to stop looking up faraway places on her tablet, and visit them in real life instead. But to finish her rocket ship and get to the moon, she'll need some help from her family. If only they could LOOK UP from their screens long enough to help her!

'Managing screen time is an issue many families are facing, from an increasingly young age. 34% of parents with preschool children are concerned about online/internet addiction* while 52% of parents think their kid is spending too much time online**.

'There are even concerns about how much time parents are spending online! 52% of parents said they spend too much time on mobile devices and 39% of kids agree***!

'The Little Possum Who Looked Up is an entertaining, relatable and age-appropriate approach to educate the whole family about the importance to spending time together without any screens.' (Publication summary)

'Once there was an emu wearing one red shoe, Who set out on a walk just like emus do, Leaving from the town they call Tullabaloo... Why was that emu wearing one red shoe? Follow all the animals in this fun singalong mystery from favourite Aussie singer-songwriter John Field and award-winning illustrator David Legge.' (Publication summary)

A warm urban love story set in Bellini's Cafe - the busiest cafe in the middle of the city. It is the story of Enzo Bellini who has a serious heart condition and whose dying wish is to see his heartbroken daughter Sofia happy again. Enzo has not many lattes left in him and he will go to any length to find the right man for his daughter. Who Loves Me? is a modern, contemporary musical about love, coffee, the stock market, and the the seductive power of the Mambo (Origin Theatrical website).

The characters in the musical are: Sofia (heartbroken 32 year old, home to work in her father's cafe), Enzo (her father and owner of Bellini's Cafe), Michael (Bellini's 35 year-old barista who is secretly in love with Sofia), Carmela (a waitress who watches over Sofia and Madeleine), Madeleine (the feisty passionate actress in her late twenties), Curtis (an engaging but depressed romantic stockbroker in love with Madeleine), Sydney (another stockbroker who is in love with Sofia), 'Snort' (a 19 year-od, stockbroker who is in love with the older Carmela), Julia (a reporter), Miss Monica (the dangerously sexy Latin dance teacher in her 40s), Larry Van De Mere (the tired, uninspired chain smoking Latin dance teacher).

Boy meets girl, Boy loses girl, boy becomes bird.

Act one begins in the small country town of Tullamana where a farewell party is being held for Lester and Evelyn (Evie) at the Mud Bath Hotel. Lester is leaving to sign a recording contract with the business conglomerate “B.I.G.” and Evelyn is to be his manager. The board of business conglomerate “B.I.G” are up to their ears in insider trading schemes and decide to set Lester up to be their much needed share market disaster. He is seduced by B.I.G.'s sensual PR girl Miss Yahwhohow , taken to the city and given a ridiculous image - the Birdman. Meanwhile Evelyn goes home heartbroken. B.I.G.'s plan falls apart however after an environmentally aware radio station puts the Birdman into the top twenty. Fearing their share price will increase, the conglomerate sacks Miss Yahwhohow and publicly ridicules the Birdman. With the help of his father Lester eventually fakes his own death, while snaps out of her torpor and decides to become someone.

Act two opens five years later. Evelyn is now a major TV personality with her own current affairs show and Miss Yahwhohow has become wealthy by founding a quasi religious “birdcult” dedicated to the worship of the supposedly dead Birdman!. Using money from the birdcult, Miss Yahwhohow has bought control of B.I.G . She then outlines how B.I.G will demolish Tullamana to build a casino over Tullamana’s mud baths. In desperation Lester writes to the producers’ of Evelyn’s show and is invited to appear on it. A week before the town is demolished, Evie and Lester meet to see if they can find a way to defeat B.I.G. In a climactic “Evelyn at Nine”, Lester dons the old Bird suit and rises from the dead in front of a shocked Bird cult. Miss Yahwhohow who is now proved to be a fraud loses all her money and ownership of B.I.G is transferred to Lester. He and Evelyn then make up for lost time.

[Source: John Field website]