On Sunday, at Books Illustrated in Albert Park, The Thirsty Flowers was officially launched. To celebrate, the poem was performed to a gathered crowd in Gasworks Park, Albert Park.

The highlights of the performance, as with most amateur theatre, were the drastic amateurish mistakes. The crowd roared with approval when Cactus, played by John ‘The Big O’ Origlasso jumped in early with his ‘back off now doggie, these prickles don’t tickle’ admonishment.

So instead of:

And then at that moment of awful suspense
There came a great yell from the top of the fence
And when they looked up, well whom should they find?
None other than Cactus, who’d been left behind.
 
He flew through the air like a flying green pickle
Screaming, ‘Back off now, Doggie! These prickles don’t tickle!’

We performed it:

None other than Cactus, who’d been left behind
‘Back off now, Doggie! These prickles don’t tickle!’

It was a great afternoon full of beer, wine, honey joys and rhyme. Julie Knoblock’s beautiful illustrations decorated the walls of the Books Illustrated upstairs gallery. The original acrylic paintings are on sale there for another week or so ($900 for a double page). Susannah McFarlane, the publisher at Hardie Grant Egmont said some lovely things about the book, and encouraged us to collaborate on a sequel, The Thirsty Flowers 2: Dry Harder.

For more information and a short reading from The Thirsty Flowers, visit http://www.hardiegrantegmont.com.au/books/picture_books_highlights