In edition 113 of the SafeGround Memorandum we reported on the Shortlisting of the children’s picture book One Step at a Time in the prestigious Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards.
Now three months on, One Step at a Time was named as an Honour Book in the recent awards, and author Jane Jolly and illustrator Sally Heinrich flew to Sydney for the awards ceremony.
The short-listing had boosted sales and orders to school libraries for Book Week, prompting a reprint. With 6,000 copies sold, it is now MidnightSun’s best-selling title.
SafeGround South Australia Group members’ encouraged Jane’s quest for an illustrator and publisher. In Memorandum 105 we were thrilled to report that the April 2014 Crowdfunding campaign had successfully raised $10,000. The Book Launch came nearly a year later, in February 2015, both the Crowdfunding campaign and Book Launch were supported by SA Group members.
SafeGround has a very special relationship with author Jane Jolly; Jane pledged to donate 50% of her share of Author Royalties to SafeGround, and we continue to be humbled by her generosity. Both Jane and Sally say: “We could never have done it without all the support we had, so congratulations should go to all the SafeGround people as well!”
One Step at a Time shows the close relationship between a young boy called Luk and his baby elephant Mali. When Mali is injured by a land-mine, Luk nurses her back to health with the help of other villagers and Buddhist monks. The book has a gratifying surprise ending!
