The Minister for Traffic Lights

The Minister for Traffic Lights is my fourth picture book, a personal crusade to teach kids about the colour mauve and the way parliamentary bills enjoy passage into law. I had the idea for this book while waiting at the lights on the corner of Punt Rd and Swan St in Richmond. The thought entered my head — what if there was a fourth traffic light? I went home and wrote the bare bones of the story that night.

That was 2002, and even allowing for the unwieldy nature of the parliamentary process, even politics could have solved the road rage problem by now. Nevertheless the book has now been released, and the illustrations by Andrew McLean (Where to Hide Two Elephants, A Year on the Farm) are just gorgeous. The trial ‘Mauve Traffic Light Solution’ page is based around the intersection at Station Street and Heidelberg Rd, just near my house, and the traffic school picture is the traffic school that is at the end of my old street in Kew. It all feels very personal. Just like I would have done if I wasn’t limited to stick figures.

The first review of Minister for Traffic Lights appears here.

Harry Highpants

Harry Highpants was selected for the White Ravens stand at the 2008 Bologna Book Fair and as a notable book by the Children’s Book Council.