Poppy's Gift

Oswin, the cricket, likes singing. When a poppy appears on his dry sand hill he falls in love and offers to sing for her. But Poppy rejects Oswin’s offer as she prefers the more colourful visitors. However they soon disappear and Poppy realises that they were only interested in her flower.

Poppy begins to appreciate Oswin’s company. He never sings for her yet continues to affirm his love long after her beautiful flower has changed into a seed pod. As Poppy’s life comes to an end she thanks Oswin for his friendship and begs him to sing for her. He cannot fulfill Poppy’s last wish, he can only declare his love once again and make a little hill for her. Then he goes into hiding for a long time.

Eventually the rains turn Poppy’s hill into a green island and Oswin returns. Overjoyed to see the hill in flower, he finds his voice again and begins to sing. Oswin sings for the little poppies the whole day through until the sun goes down.

About the Author and Illustrator

Guundie Kuchling bounced into life in the famous Austrian city of Salzburg. From flower girl to sausage sizzler, from snail breeder to beach comber, Guundie has done it all – and never lost the passionate inter est and curiosity of a child. This is the key to her success as a fine artist and writer. Guundie has a fine arts degree from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna.

She is a painter, print maker, sculptor, and picture book creator. In talks and workshops, Guundie enchants her audience by talking about art, animals, books, the environment, food, and other sources for her inspirations. She gives examples how to come up with ideas and to shape them into plots; she demonstrates how to use a lino block for print making; she unleashes the writer and artist in each of the students, young and old, and gets them creating works of their own.

Guundie lives in Perth, with a backyard populated by birds, lizards and snakes, fruit trees, herbs and vegetables. Of course, there is also her husband Dr Gerald Kuchling. He is travelling the world as a conservation biologist and has saved Australia’s most endangered turtle, the Western Swamp Tortoise, from the brink of extinction. Guundie has been helping him all along with field work. Gerald is the co-author of her two Yakkinn books and also the chief advisor for all her other non fiction picture books. He is certainly the chef in their kitchen and the big open fire place outside