By Ann Marie Angebrandt
ALTONA North author Sherryl Clark’s latest children’s book aims to empower young people.
Launched last week at Altona Primary School, the prolific writer said her new book, Sixth Grade Style Queen (Not!) has an ending that gives hope to children who feel their lives are out of their control.
“One of my things about writing kids books is that I know they often feel powerless,” she said.
The story, told in verse, focuses on Dawn, in year 6, who does not fit in with her fashion and make-up conscious peers, nor with her parents, who fight all the time.
She eventually realises that not having all the answers isn’t such a bad thing after all.
Besides writing books, the mother-of-one also teaches professional writing and editing at Victoria University.
“The students learn that this is an industry and a bookshop is a marketplace,” she said.
Since having her first book published in 1997, Ms Clark hasn’t looked back.
The 51-year-old has written 30 books, both fiction and non-fiction, including two works of adult poetry.
“I used to write as a kid but I never thought I’d be doing this as a career,” she said.
Her first published work, Too Tight Tutu, was written when her main publisher, Penguin, was introducing the Aussie Bites series for newly independent readers.
“It was the right length, the right target, and came along at the right time,” she said.
But Ms Clark is stepping away from children’s writing for a while to focus on something that is often in Melbourne newspaper headlines.
“I’m working on an adult crime novel that’s been in my head for a while,” she said.
“It’s set in Melbourne around Ascot Vale and has connections to the gangland wars.”
