Cirrus@Austlit

'Worse Things Happen at Sea is about families, suburbs and homes, friends, love and day to day life written by bestselling author William McInnes and award winning filmmaker, photographer and animator Sarah Watt.

'In William's first book A Man's Got to Have a Hobby he wrote about family life in the 1960s with humour, affection and honesty. Worse Things Happen at Sea does the same for family life in 2000s; written by William and Sarah in a way that many Australians can relate to and enjoy.

'This book celebrates the wonderful, messy, haphazard things in life -- bringing home babies from hospital, being a friend, a parent, son or daughter, and dog obedience classes. It's about living for twenty years in the family home, raising children there, chasing angry rabbits around the backyard, renovations that never end. It is also about understanding that sometimes you have to say goodbye; that is part of life too.

'Illustrated throughout with Sarah Watt's photographs of family life and beautiful, everyday objects.' (From the publisher's website.)

'Clem can do a lot of things, but at his first swimming lesson he is not at all keen to get into the pool, because he doesn t know how to swim!

'Clem can do a lot of things, but when it comes to swimming lessons, he's not so sure. He just doesn't want to get in the pool, even when his mum tries everything from reasoning to losing it! Clem's mum reminds him of all the things he can do and had to learn. She tells him he had to learn how to put his pyjamas on and go to the toilet, but Clem shakes his head and says, 'I always could.' He's convinced these things just came naturally to him, until one day Clem finds the confidence he needs to take that first step into the water.' (Publication summary)

A short animated film developed from the 1996 novel The Way of the Birds: A Child and a Curlew Travel Across the World.

Parent production company Every Cloud Productions offers the following synopsis of the film:

'The Ways Of The Birds [sic] is the story of a little girl who thinks she is a bird. She never speaks to humans, but dances and twitters and talks with the willy wagtails, ravens, magpies and white-plumed honeyeaters that visit her garden. And then one day she finds a dying Eastern Curlew in the backyard and her spirit is transported to the Siberian plains where these great wading birds breed and hatch. She turns into a curlew herself and eventually goes with them on their journey across the world.

'When finally her spirit returns home, she wakes from her dreams and buries the curlew with the help of her mother and brother. The neighbour's kids who until then have thought her crazy, decide to join in and they work to create a haven which will provide a vital stopover for the migratory birds. Their labours bear fruit: One day an Eastern Curlew lands in the little swamp that they have created on the edge of their suburb, rests and feeds to regain strength for the rest of its journey.

And the little girl finds the words to speak to her mother for the first time.'

Source: Every Cloud Productions (http://www.everycloudproductions.com.au/about-us/fiona-eagger/twenty-20/the-way-of-the-birds/p/31). (Sighted: 18/10/2012)