Firstly, Andrea, your books beautifully capture the essence of a classic Australian summer by the coast and being outdoors. What draws you to nature and beach settings in your stories, and what do you hope young readers take away from these scenes?

Filling myself up on the wildness of coastal places is my favourite past time. I was raised on saltwater and sand, and feel most at home by the beach. I’m so drawn to the rhythm of the ocean, which set a rhythm for me back in childhood – days didn’t have a real structure and the shoreline invited a sense of freedom, curiosity, and healthy risk taking that felt incredibly liberating. I feel released from worries and full of awe when I’m by the sea. I hope when young readers move through the pages of my recent books, In the Rockpool and Amid the Sand Dunes illustrated so beautifully by Hannah Sommerville, that they can feel the wild wonder and awe, as well as feel that permission to explore and learn about our oceans, seashores and sand dunes. I’d like them to peer into rockpools, under jetties and up into the dunes and say ‘Hello, who lives here?’ as they move joyfully and respectfully through these places. I equally hope these books inspire conversations about precious coastal places, and how we can help care for them too.

Living near the coast clearly influences your storytelling. Are there specific moments or places from your daily life that spark ideas for your books?

I spend a lot of time walking by the ocean along my beach track and home again, often overhearing little walkers chat to their parents. I am always listening out for observation other people make so that I can see the coast through their eyes too. I love walking in the late afternoon when families are out together. I often play tiny little comments repeatedly in my head as a rhythm to my walk – by the time I walk back in my door often a new story idea has settled inside me. I spend a lot of time looking for changes in nature around me. What the tides are doing, what animals are nesting or migrating past – I’m always tucking what I see into my notebook in case it’s useful for a story. The sea is the frontline for so much that happens in our world, it’s important to me that I include this in my writing in the hope we can all continue to treasure, preserve and protect these biospheres for generations ahead.

What do you enjoy most about those lazy, sun-soaked summer days by the beach? Is there a particular memory or favourite spot that continues to inspire your writing?

Summer days are adventure days when there’s a beach nearby. I happily sign up for walking, swimming, exploring, boogie boarding, snorkelling and sailing, as well as beach clean-up days! It goes without saying that for a kid by the coast, jetties dominated my childhood, but not for jumping off them. I was rather terrorised by the idea of jetties, and the murky shapes below. Being dragged reluctantly along jetties with my family across Australia was a catalyst for me in writing Milla’s story in Jetty Jumping. I so wanted to be braver! There was a pivotal memory on the Abrolhos Island on a little fisherman’s jetty where I dropped a toy fluffy chicken into the water I’d been given as an Easter gift. My brother leapt into save it! I’ll never forget watching my favourite thing float and fall through the blue water. This memory of fear, worry and determination to move through a tricky time stayed with me. I can still see my brother emerging from the sparkling water with a now soggy chicken in his victorious hand! And after that I felt a little lifting in the idea that the deep blue sea was a friend, and not something to fear. The tiny town of Port Fairy in Victoria is a model for much of my story settings. I was lucky to enjoy a wonderful childhood of freedom on its beaches, in the streets and in surrounding paddocks. It’s a story playground! I seem to hold on to those vignettes of life in my story-seeking mind, and not just from my own childhood, but from own children’s too as they grew up on the Mornington Peninsula. Seeing the beach through their eyes and the ways they claimed the coastline gave me new ideas for stories. I’m constantly watching out for how little people step into the outdoors with a sense of discovery and energy.

With summer approaching, many families are looking for ways to keep kids outdoors and active. Do you have any tips or traditions that families could try to encourage a love of nature and adventure in their own backyards or local beaches?


Head to the beach with the same sense of energy and adventure to match your child. Let the kids lead the way and see where they take you – up amid the dunes to Cooee across gullies, down by the shoreline to hold shells up to ears, dragging driftwood along to build beach forts, digging deep into cool sand to create sandcastle moats, or rambling along the rocks where the ocean retreats for you to peer into rockpools. The curiosity of kids can lead you towards memories you’ll treasure. And you may end up making traditions out of it too. One of our most treasured traditions was our annual sandcastle and sand ditch digging endeavours with friends and their kids on our NSW coastal holiday adventures. We made beach forts with driftwood and decorated them with seaweed, and discovering abandoned stick forts was equally exciting to claim the space. It’s worth lugging a beach bag or trolley of beach toys with you – shovels, buckets, nets, ropes, sieves and snorkel masks to invite children to peer closely and play curiously. Just remind them to look and not touch to keep marine creatures safe, and to leave them where they find them. Remember to pack the binoculars too for keeping an eye out for dolphins, whales, hooded plovers, and even pirates! Take an esky of food and drink to prolong your time outdoors – a big tub of pre-cut watermelon, containers of crackers and dip, and frozen drink bottles to quench the thirst and keep them cool. Beach time can lead to long days of outdoor fun if you bring all the good gear – but it’s better if you can enlist small hands to carry a few items too. I always asked my children what they preferred to carry and it became ‘their thing’ to lug to the car and back, or over the beach track and home again. 


For parents hoping to keep their kids reading through the holidays, what advice would you give? Do you have any book recommendations or activities that blend well with a summer of fun and exploration?

I’m a fan of creating special summer reading spots – that might even be a book nook under a table or behind the couch on those too hot for the beach days. Swing from a hammock in the backyard, or drag a mattress outside to laze with books in the shade. Sometimes putting books in their hands over summer calls for stealth moves! Create baskets and tubs of reading books and place them everywhere – in the car, by the couch, near the kitchen bench, on the porch. Mix them up with non-fiction and fiction books created by different illustrators and authors, so that your child can self- select what they want to read at different times and in places where they’re comfortable or just killing time. For summer fun activities – there are super coastal crafts on Pinterest you can download. And a quick Google will locate car activities for a trip to the beach like I spy games, summer word searches or even species identity worksheets to tick off who or what you see. Most national park organisation have nature kids’ activity sheets and Junior Ranger downloadables. Many of them I would have written in my past life as an environmental kids writer for national parks and outdoor organisations. If you’ve read In the Rockpool, or Amid the Sand Dune here’s some fun coast craft activities. Make your own rockpools at home with paper plates and glue old magazine or catalogue images in the shape of marine creatures, or take upside paper bowls to create sand dunes with yellow tissue paper, cardboards and packaging. For Jetty Jumping and Sunday Skating readers take a concertina paper doll from the craft shop, and design our own swim wear or skate gear with old pieces of material to glue on the paper dolls.

Happy Summer reading & ample Coast exploring!

StoryBox Hub would like to thank Andrea Rowe for her pearls of wisdom and Summer reading advice! You can watch Jetty Jumping (also available in Auslan), Sunday Skating and In the Rockpool (also available in 'read-along') on StoryBox Hub now!