Aleesah Darlison

THE NEXT BIG THING is a chain of book and author recommendations. One author tags five others, who then each tag five other authors and so on it goes ... The lovely Zena Shapter tagged me on her blog and now it's my turn to answer ten questions about my next book, BEARLY THERE, then pass the baton onto the next five authors (names listed below) whose Next Big Thing Blogs will go live on 19 Dec 2012.

What is the working title of your next book?

Bearly There, which will be released in March 2013.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

When my son, Blake, was a toddler he was totally addicted to his raggedy teddy bear, ‘Whinnie’. Blake took that bear everywhere with him, always played with it and slept with it every single night. Seeing how much Blake adored Whinnie (despite how terrible he looked) inspired me to write Bearly There. Below is just one of the many photographs taken of Blake and his beloved bear.

What genre does your book fall under?

Picture book.

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
That’s a hard one. It would probably have to be an animated movie because it would be for a child audience, so voices only:

Blake: Zachary Gordon, who plays Greg Heffley in Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

Bearly There (the well-loved, raggedy teddy bear): irresistible Brad Pitt.

Winston (the brand new, mischievous teddy bear): naughty Jim Carrey or Adam Sandler.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Bearly There is an exquisitely humorous story about a boy and his bears, about new friends and old, about love and loyalty.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Bearly There is (commercially) published by Windy Hollow Books.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?

A few months. But all of my picture book manuscripts undergo a great deal of editing and refinement before I’m ready to send them off to a publisher.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

There are a few teddy bear books out there, I guess, like Corduroy and The Perfect Bear, but I’d like to think that my quirky little bear is different to the rest ...

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

My son, Blake, and his teddy ‘Whinnie’.

What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?

The illustrations are done by multi-talented artist, Jill Carter-Hansen using a palette of red and black only (with various shades of each). The rich red colours used in the book emphasise a theme of love and playfulness. Bearly There makes a wonderful gift book for birthdays and Christmas for children aged 2-6 years of age. With its quirky characters and humorous text it’s the perfect bed-time book, sure to be popular with children and parents alike. Here I am (right) with Jill (left), below:

Now you've read my Next Big Thing Blog, why don't you check out the next five author postings, which will be live on 19 December:

Susanne Gervay: http://www.sgervay.com/blog/

Deb Abela: http://www.deborahabela.com/site/Blog/Blog.html

Jeni Mawter: http://www.jenimawter.com/blog/

Felicity Pulman: http://www.felicitypulman.com.au/blog/

Christopher Cheng: http://www.chrischeng.com/my-author-blog

Oliver Phommavanh: http://winfree.com.au/

And don't forget if you want to backtrack and visit previous Next Big Thing Blogs, why not start with Zena Shapter: http://www.zenashapter.com/blog/