Creators

Author

Hi everyone and welcome!

My name is Alicia and I am the author of my passion project - Mummy, the bush is on fire! Like everyone, I was absolutely heartbroken to see people losing everything in the recent bushfires which tore though our country in 2019/2020. I struggled to understand how so many people could lose their homes, livelihoods and face the possibility of losing loved ones. Images of fire destroying national parks and wildlife was shattering to see. I decided to write this book when my 3 year old son Vinny said to me one day “Mummy the animals are burning”. I was so taken back by what he had said to me, it made me realise children are often forgotten in situations like this. We forget to sit down and have an open and honest conversation about what is happening and what we can do to try and overcome it. Children will often fill in the gaps with their own thoughts if we don’t communicate with them. I loved writing this book and I hope your little ones enjoy reading it! AM x

Illustrator

My name is Shania-Mae Sturm II. I go by Sketchy Koala in the art world and I’ve been drawing for almost my entire life! I’m an Australian living in Georgia, USA with my lovely Husband, Marshall. Since I’m living in the US, it was beyond heartbreaking to watch my home country literally go up in flames. I was very worried for my family, friends, and everyone who was involved. Then I thought, “Well if humans are scared then I can’t imagine how the animals feel!” I felt helpless being across the world and unable to physically help, so I did what I know how to do and created an art piece to ease everyone’s mind about the animals that were lost in the fires. It was an art piece of Steve Irwin welcoming the perished animals into heaven. My art piece went viral around the globe and was seen by many people. One in particular, Alicia! It has been an absolute honor to work on this children’s book with this amazing and caring woman! I had moments of joy and sadness while illustrating this book as it really opens your eyes to catastrophic events like the Australian bushfires. I hope that every child who gets to read this book is able to understand and know that there is always hope no matter what the issue is!