Jetty Jumping wins gold

When it comes to children’s books, winning a Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year award is a big deal – and doubly so if you’re a debut author. Mornington Peninsula debut author Andrea Rowe did just that last month with her picture book Jetty Jumping winning the CBCA Early Childhood category.

Written by Andrea and illustrated by Hannah Sommerville, Jetty Jumping tells the story of Milla, who yearns to be brave like her friends and jump off the jetty. But she’s too scared. Milla’s summer changes for ever when she accidentally falls off the jetty and discovers the deep blue sea isn’t so scary after all. In fact, it’s beautiful.

“It was a ‘pinch me’ moment,” Andrea said after hearing the announcement. “Hannah and I were online together thinking we were going to be interviewed for something else, so when we were told we’d won the award we thought it was a joke. It’s been an amazing ride for a debut author.”

As kids, both Andrea and Hannah collected picture books with CBCA award stickers on them. “To see a gold winner sticker on our book is like a dream,” Andrea said.