The media release from Penguin Random House Australia describes former-teacher now full time author Jacqueline Harvey as a ‘superstar children’s author’. I don’t have kids and am obviously not in her target audience but my local bookshop owner and another bookseller on Facebook told me her books are hugely popular.

When I met the very affable author she was in the midst of a book tour along the coastal areas of southern Queensland, appearing at schools and in bookstores. She’d already had school visits in Maryborough and Hervey Bay by the time I lumbered into her appearance at Mary Ryan’s in Hervey Bay to promote the 15th book in her Alice-Miranda series.