Mini Taco

Don't miss Deb Abela in this episode of wondrous possibilities! We dive backwards into Deb's amazing book and offer up fantastic tips for writing the most magical kids books.  Plus, we announce the winner of our awesome Book Pack and Elodie offers up a brand new Book Pack to giveaway next week. Your school could WIN! 

The Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) have announced kids will will have a vote and play an important role in the most prestigious children's book awards in the country.  Ken talks to the Victorian President of the CBCA, Jo Pankridge and gets all the details, including how you can be involved: shadowjudging.cbca.org.au. Liv has an amazing book-pack to give away.  And, we take the Mini Taco Podcast on the road to St Josephs Primary School. 

Legendary Australian Author Sue Whiting discusses her latest book Pearly and Pig. She teaches Elodie and Ken how to speak pig language and the language of animals. Plus, Sue shares some amazing advice from her writing process, and offers up some awesome tips for kids who want to write books. 

Kylie Howarth is an award-winning children’s book author and illustrator from Perth, Australia. She was raised in the country alongside her brother, a dog, sheep, several orphaned kangaroos and one very cheeky echidna.   Her obsession with animals also extends underwater as she has braved lionfish in Egypt, piranha and pink dolphins in the Amazon, marine iguanas and hammerhead sharks in the Galapagos Islands and swum with whale sharks, manta rays and humpback whales at Ningaloo, Western Australia. This obsession has led to an array of awesome kids books featuring many of these amazing creatures. She’s popped in today to chat about her latest book, Koala Stole My Undies, as well as offer up some awesome advice on creating books.

Today’s guest says he is not a spy. However, a spy would say that, wouldn’t they?! Despite this, our guest shares some awesome advice on writing books for kids, how to gather story ideas, and how to put them together. He is actually the author of such books as Derek Dool, Alien Zoo, Kick it to Nick, Co-author of Little Legends and the picture book author of Stop the Dad Jokes and The Unfunny Bunny. He is a TV Producer who has worked on such shows as The Logies, Carols by Candlelight, Prank Patrol, and Kids WB. But he’s not a spy! He’s written about someone who is a spy though. And that someone is Furball, Sid Furball. To tell us all about it and share his author journey with us, please welcome Adrian Beck.

What is an editor? What do they do? What happens when you submit your story to a publisher? How do publishers turn it into a book? Today’s guest was shortlisted as a Rising Star of Australian Publishing at the Australian Book Industry Awards. And, she’s popped in to explain to kids how books are made, what happens when you submit to a publisher and everything in between, please welcome author and editor extraordinaire, Crystal Corocher.

There really are creatures such as Zombi Snails. And they are so incredible you must know all about them!! Sami Bayly shares the world's most extraordinary creatures with us. Some are bizarre, freaky, ugly, but all are magnificent!!  Today’s guest is a natural history illustrator based in Australia, who loves all things weird and wonderful. She finds the beauty and importance of all animals regardless of their appearance and hopes to share her appreciation with others.  Sami shares her processes for writing and drawing, how she gets into the heads of these creatures and all the fun of creating books for kids.

We look at how to write Narrative Non Fiction and make it fun for kids.  Shelly Unwin is the author of several books for kids, including Blast Off and There’s A Baddie Running Through This Book. She’s popped in today to share her  author journey and process for writing. We take a look at Blast Off, which is a Narrative Non Fiction Picture Book. Shelly shares her process for making non-fiction character-based, and fun for kids to read.

Today's episode is all about the amazing records and stories found in the most incredible book.  Guinness World Records 2023 is in stores now and is choc full of amazing people and animals doing amazing things.  We interview Strongman Troy Conley-Magnusson about his two records and the inspiration behind the awesome work he does. 

Welcome to a special edition of the Mini Taco Podcast with Elodie, Liv and Ken. Mini Taco podcast was created as a celebration of the books we love, to connect kids with the authors we love, and to offer up some must-have tips for kids who want to write and illustrate stories. So in this episode, we've mashed up a few of our favs. It’s 9 fun guests celebrating 10 awesome books, sharing 11 must-have tips. We’ve got hilarious poems, rowdy pirates, nerdy animals, freaky pets and a cockroach on a cake. We’ve got tips on finding ideas, drawing pictures, and even tips on how to write stories with your friends. And it’s all here in today’s mash up.

Andy Griffiths shares his awesome new book, 156 Storey Treehouse. Plus, he helps Ken look for a lost sausage in one of the new Treehouse levels, and he offers up some very helpful tips for kids who want to write their own amazing stories.  And, Liv and Ken practise for Chair Up Your Nose Day, inspired by one of the Treehouses favourite holidays. 

It's spring in Australia, which can mean only one thing. Flies! They're coming! Fortunately, today’s special guest is pretty Fly for a science guy. So Fly in fact, that he was voted by Attitude Magazine as one of the top 10 trailblazers of Science and Technology.   His research takes him to all corners of the world to discover and document new species of insects. He’s even named species of flies. To tell us all about his love of flies, how flies became the first astronauts in space, how flies are great dancers, how without flies there would be no chocolate, and all about his new book called, Eyes on Flies, everybody please welcome Dr Bryan Lessard, or as he prefers to be known, Bry the Fly Guy ...

Shannan and Tayla Stedman are writing partners and co-authors of the hugely popular kids series Lola Online. They've popped in today to share how they write together, how they come up with their ideas and how they created Lola Online and took it to the world.  They discuss the joy they have coming up with ideas, and how much fun it is to be a part of something special together. They both love writing, they share similar interests, and they love working together.  Please welcome the amazing, Dynamic Duo, Tayla and Shannan Stedman. Woo-hoooo!

Author, Bec Timmis has turned her popular children's book series into a video game. It's Teacher Approved and available from Google Play and the App Store.   Bec has popped in to tell us how she went about making the video game, as well as offering up awesome tips for kids on writing, drawing and loving books.  Plus, Liz Ledden shares her picture book, Walking Your Human. 

Today's Guest is an author who’s written more than 100 books for kids and teens, including the Gamers trilogy, the interactive You Choose series, the OTHER WORLDS series, and the non-fiction Survival Guides. To tell us all about his author journey, and how he makes his awesome book trailers, please welcome George Ivanoff.

Author and comedian, Oliver Phommavanh pops in to chat about why writing and being an author is the best job in the world. And, even better than that, it's available to everyone. It's something real that kids can aim towards. We play the Taco Book Quiz and give away a awesome book pack and announce Character of the Week.

Pirates are on the loose!!! Arrrrrgh!! Author Jack Henseleit and illlustrator Chris Kennett tell us about thier hilarious pirate adventure series called Cross Bones. They offer up awesome tips on writing and illustrating kids books, as well as what it's like to collaborate on books. How books get published and much more. Plus, there's Character of the Week, Book reviews, Book pack giveaways and The Taco Book Quiz.

Breaking News:  There’s a new book all about a whacky cooking show. It’s called Meowster Chef. And, author Sarah Speedie has popped in to tell us all about it. As well as sharing some awesome writing tips for kids. We review a bunch of current kids books, play the Taco Quiz, talk to some rowdy pirates, give away some prizes and tell you how you can win as well. 

Katrina Germein writes joyful books for children. She believes young readers deserve stories that inspire curiosity, imagination, and laughter. With over twenty published titles, Katrina has seen her highly acclaimed work sold around the world. Her latest book is My Dad Thinks He's a Pirate.  Katrina has popped in today to talk about her new book, tell some fun jokes, and offer up some awesome writing tips. Plus, Liv reviews the fantastic middle grade series The Nerd Herd. We play the Mini Taco Book Quiz, and announce Character of the Week. 

Today’s guest ran away to join the circus. She entertained people by flying through the air on her amazing trapeze. Nowadays, she entertains people with amazing books full of adventure. So, just for fun, we shot her out of a cannon. And, with three summersaults, two twists and forward roll, here she is in the studio. To tell us all about her latest book, We Run Tomorrow, and offer up some awesome writing tips, it’s the acrobatic, super energetic, amazing author, Nat Amoore. Plus Liv reviews the Real Pigeons series and we find out who is this week's Character of the Week