The Little Wooden Horse
It is not well known that there were many children among the convicts sent in brutal conditions to Australia soon after settlement in 1788. Many of them died on the months-long sea voyages from Britain, and those who survived the appalling conditions of the convict ships faced further privations when they arrived in the struggling infant colony.
The Little Wooden Horse is the story of two such children who survive by the courage and strength borne of their deep friendship. The thoroughly researched story will give children an accurate and engaging picture of a child’s life in the days of early settlement.
About the Author
Fine artist Mark Wilson has been illustrating and writing children’s books for over twenty years, at the same time exhibiting as a fine artist in many solo and group exhibitions and performing as a musician. Of his numerous popular children’s books, the most recent are Stranded!, Angel of Kokoda, Journey of the Sea Turtle, My Mother’s Eyes: The Story of a Boy Soldier, The Yellow Turban and Aladdin and The Magic Lamp.
Mark has won many awards for illustration and fine art, including Whitley Award for Childrens Literature (The Last Tree 2007); Wilderness Society Award for Children's Literature (The Extinction Trilogy, wirtten by Gary Crew, 2004); Wilderness Society Award for Children's Literature (Yellow-Eye, 2003); CBCA Notable Australian Children’s Book (The Extinction Trilogy, written by Gary Crew, 2004); CBCA Notable Australian Children’s Book (Young Murphy, A Boys Adventure, written by Gary Crew, 2005); CBCA Notable Australian Children’s Book (The Penguin Shore, 2000); CBCA Notable Australian Children’s Book (Yellow-Eye, 2002); Western Australian Premiers Book Award (Rodeo Darcy, 2007); Undine Award, Melbourne Town Hall Collection, Painting 1987; the Rotring National Art Prize for Drawing, 1990; Whitley Award for Children’s Literature. (The Extinction Trilogy, written by Gary Crew, 2004).
