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1 y separately published work icon World Martine Murray , Anna Read (illustrator), Melbourne : Parachute Press , 2023 27605483 2023 single work picture book children's 'A man approaches a tree with an axe and the tree speaks to him. What ensues is a conversation in which the man tries to show the tree what a real world consists of. He points out the roads, the buildings, the ships and supermarkets but what he sees is his own loneliness amidst them. In quiet response, the tree reveals the deep and sustaining complexity and vitality of the "world" it houses. Set at an imagined edge of the city and the natural world, this story asks what have we become possessed by and consequentially, what have we forgotten?'  Source: Publisher's blurb.
1 y separately published work icon The Owl Who Got Left Behind Martine Murray , Anna Read (illustrator), Melbourne : Parachute Press , 2022 24301231 2022 single work picture book children's

'One moon-lit night on a faraway beach, somewhere in the mists of time, an owl is grieving the departure of his friend who has sailed away in the pea-green boat. When a passing rhino tries to comfort him, he almost misses out on the best friendship he will ever have.

'This is the first in a series of tales, in which Owl and Rhino dramatise the familiar patterns, mishaps and tenderness of friendship and relationship. While Owl is anxious, heady, and adventurous, Rhino is calm, constant and compassionate. But together they find a mutually enhancing equilibrium. In this story and via humorous and poignant illustrations, Owl and Rhino are swept up in the strange dance of losing, longing, and refinding.

'A quiet love story about almost overlooking what we do have by longing for what we can’t have.' (Publication summary)

1 y separately published work icon The Wanting Monster Martine Murray , Anna Read (illustrator), Melbourne : Parachute Press , 2021 21667418 2021 single work picture book children's

'A gentle and humorous fable about a tiny monster who causes enormous trouble in one village. The story pits the small village, with its stream and forest and fields, against human greed, carefully stirred into the minds of the hapless villagers by the attention-seeking Wanting Monster. The villagers realize that their emergent competitiveness and acquisitiveness has ruined the life and beauty of their village, just as the Wanting Monster, now expelled from the village, realizes the value of befriending.' (Publication summary)

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