Mount Isa-born author Karen Foxlee's new book comes out next week.
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Ms Foxlee is the author of Lenny's Book of Everything which won multiple awards in 2019, including Children's Book of the Year at the Indie Book Award
Now she is releasing a new novel called Dragon Skin about a middle-grade girl who saves a dragon and rescues her family.
Her heroine Pip is a dreamer who likes to sit at the waterhole at dusk and after she finds a half-dead baby dragon at the waterhole, everything changes. S
Much like Pip, Karen Foxlee grew up running through the fields and scaling the hills in Mount Isa.
She said she was passionate about bringing this landscape to life in Dragon Skin, as well as writing about toxic masculinity in a way that a young person could make sense of. In Dragon Skin, the darkest of topics are dealt with the lightest touch.
"The more I wrote about Pip saving the dragon, the more I realised she was a girl facing her own grief and a girl choosing to save herself and her mother from a violent relationship," Karen said.
"My aim was to write a story that was both an entertaining page-turning fantasy and a story that shines a light on the subject of domestic violence, on toxic relationships and the strength that is required to escape them.
'I know these are themes not often visited in children's literature, but I think they are incredibly important. It's so vital that children see themselves and their families represented in all their forms. It's important that these things are discussed, and not hidden.
She said she I loved writing the story of Pip and Little Fella.
"Saving the dragon involves Weet-Bix, spaghetti, mushed arrowroot biscuits and sticky tape, but also courage," she said.
"Dragon Skin is a story about resilience, and never ever giving up on hope. Help can always be found if you ask for it."
Dragon Skin, published by Allen and Unwin comes out September 28.
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