Magic at the End of the World by Amanda Lieber

Here in Australia, we have just celebrated Book Week.  For a week in schools, we appreciate books even more than usual. We dress up as our favourite character from our favourite book and parade around the school. There are so many incredible stories and characters to choose from. The Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) organises Book Week and announces the long-awaited winning books of the year. These books have been selected by a panel of judges to create the long list, then the short list. It’s every authors, illustrators and publishers dream to have their books nominated and then picked as a winner.  Surrounded by the excitement of Book Week.  I would love to share for my very first blog post one of my favourite books that I discovered this year,  The Garden at the End of the World.
 
At the end of the world is an island covered in ice.
On the island is a mountain.
Inside the mountain is a vault.
And inside the vault are millions of seeds.

​When Isla and her botanist mother are out exploring in their garden, hunting for herbs, foraging for fungi, Isla finds a seed pod, beautiful and strange. Isla wants to keep it, but her mother tells her of a special place at the end of the world, a seed vault between Norway and the North Pole. They set off on an adventure to the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard to add their seed to this vault for future generations to come.
 
This is a beautiful story of hope, curiosity, adventure and protecting nature’s treasures for the future. Filled with facts about this incredible vault which stores seeds from across the globe. We follow Isla and her mother through the illustrations which add a magical element to story.
Briony’s clever use of cyanotype paper to add a whimsical feel. Her end pages are stunning with prints of cyanotype images.  A super fun activity to do with or without children! I went straight out and bought myself and my son some of this remarkable paper. Here are some wonderful examples from the book.

I really appreciated the information at the end of the book about the Global Seed Vault for the curious minds of little ones who wish find out more about this remarkable place.

•GARDEN AT THE END OF THE WORLD
•Written by Cassy Polimeni
•Illustrated by Briony Stewart
•Designed and layout by Hannah Janzen
•Published by UQP, 2023

Amanda’s career as a worldly actress has been her favourite so far, she hopes writing for children will be her next new favourite! In between, she’s taught English, Drama and early childcare and now works with children with special needs, where she bring her imaginative flair into the classroom, always dreaming of the being back on the stage.

Amanda’s writes a variety of stories from those that are sensitive, humorous and sometimes quirky with fairytale-esque elements. She hopes her books will influence children to read and write their own wonderful stories.

Being active in SCBWI, CBCA NSW and a graduate of the Children's Book Academy keeps Amanda focused and honing her craft.

Her debut picture book My Giant Sea Shell is now available https://amandalieber.com/books/

Find Amanda here:
https://amandalieber.com/
https://www.instagram.com/amandalieber
https://www.facebook.com/amanda.lieber.1