SOON is our way of keeping in
touch; letting you know about our latest releases as well as some of the new
acquisitions to our shelf list.
We also hope it will become a repository of creativity, news and ideas, and perhaps a medium that will inspire sponteneity and bit of laughter along the way. If you'd like to contribute anything to SOON, please reply to this message.
‘Laughter is the shortest distance
between two people.’
Victor Borge
New Release
Kids’ Skills – Playful and
practical solution-finding with children
Ben Furman
At last! An English translation of this
ground-breaking classic.
On his recent Australian tour,
well-known Finnish psychotherapist and TV presenter, Ben Furman, showed first
hand why his Kids’ Skills model has been influencing parents, teachers,
therapists, counsellors and policy makers around the
world.
Ben’s humour is a key to the
success of this playful and practical approach to solving difficulties faced by
children. At the heart of this book is one very significant notion—practically
all problems can be seen as skills that need to be
developed.
Ben has packed up his cape and red
undies and headed back to
New Release
Optimism
Boosters
Selina Byrne
‘The right question can change our brain chemistry by
increasing possibility, control and motivation.’
You may have had your daily
requirements of vitamins and minerals this morning; you may have already been
for your daily jog; but have you had your boost of
optimism?
Optimism Boosters is a set of cards
designed to help us think about how we would like things to be, and the actions
we can take to achieve change. A set of 30 cards, Optimism Boosters provides questions
designed to open up freah ways of
thinking and create powerful windows into change.
Selina Byrne is a psychologist and
clinical nutritionalist who conducts programs addressing wellbeing, optimism and
resilience. The questions in Optimism
Boosters are based on solid psychologial research, have been tested in
training situations and used by Selina in her own clinical practice over many
years.
Dip into these cards whenever you
need a quantum boost into new possibilities – and experience the power of questions. Click here to view Optimism Boosters online.
Coming Soon
Signposts – Exploring Everyday
Spirituality
‘Religion was danced out before it was
thought out.’
Rev Dr Warren
Bartlett
Here’s a brand new, ‘seriously
optimistic’ resource for building
conversations about the big questions in life: meaning, significance,
spirituality, faith, connectedness and transformation.
Signposts is a set of 48 cards
that describe and celebrate pathways to these big questions. Each card combines
a powerful, evocative colour photograph with a few simple words. The result is a
stunning set of cards that can be used in a myriad of situations:
·
For meditation, contemplation and
reflection
·
For journalling and reflective
therapies
·
For creative
writing
·
For building important
conversations
Signposts is not based on a particular
theology, doctrine or philosophy, but explores different ways to action belief
and reflect on the mystery of our life’s purpose.
Try Signposts, and celebrate with us the mysterious dance of our diverse inner selves. View it online.
Micro
Stories
Here at Innovative Resources we
are great believers in the transformational power of creativity in all its
forms. Storytelling is central to the human condition. We communicate through
stories, but they are also a powerful medium to investigate ideas and explore
aspects of our lives – relationships, meaning, emotional landscapes – and coming
to terms with the things we cannot change. In short, reading and writing stories
can be a way of making sense of the world.
So, what is a micro-story? Well,
as the name suggests, it’s small. But to ask how long is a short story is a bit
like asking – how long is a piece of string? As a general rule, a micro-story is
anywhere between 15 and 500 words.
Is this the world’s shortest
horror story?
The last man on Earth sat alone in
his room. There was a knock at the door.
(17 words – author
unknown)
Micro-stories require some sort of
thread to hold the story together. Often it can be a recurring image or a
startling central metaphor. Micro-stories are more about resonance than detail.
Here’s one that has both:
Childhood
We never invited Freda to play
hopscotch or dodge ball or jacks because her clothes were dirty and fading. She
smelled. On the playground, we joked that her teeth were rotten, but we never
knew for sure because she never smiled.
© Gwendolyn Joyce Mintz
2003
There are no descriptions in this
story but it is oh so vivid.
If you’d like to learn more about micro-stories, or explore the therapeutic and transformational possibilities of poetry, journalling and short stories, we have the workshop for you.
My Friend the Pen is a two day workshop for all those interested in the potential of creative writing to enrich their lives. Go to www.innovativeresources.org and click on 'news and events' for more info (or call us on 03 5442 0500).
Micro-story of the
month
The Worlds Greatest
Impressionist
© David Bateman
2003
The world's greatest
impressionist, nearing the end of his show, invites suggestions from the
audience. "You name it," he says, "and I'll be it."
So this perfectly
ordinary man in the audience says: "Do an impression of
"Certainly," says
the impressionist. "First I will need a few personal items." Taking them, he
smiles and leaves the stage, never to return.
Arriving at the man's house
and entering it as if it were his own, the impressionist is greeted by the man's
wife, and slips seamlessly into his new life. He works nine to five at the man's
office each day, tends his perfect lawn each weekend with an ordinary love that
only he could ever give, puts aside a little money each month for their family
holiday each summer as he always has, and has no memory of ever having been
anyone else.
Quote of the month
‘Love the moment, and the energy
of that moment will spread beyond all boundaries.’
Corita Kent, American Artist
1918-1986
Here are two books from our shelf
list that feature the work of Dee Huxley, one of
Rain Dance
Recognised as one of this
country’s most accomplished visual artists, Dee Huxley has been illustrating
books for almost 30 years.
Anyone who has read
In Rain Dance, Huxley has
joined forces with author Cathy Applegate to produce a timely and highly
relevant book, but also a beautiful artefact.
Through the eyes of a young girl,
Appelgate’s poetic prose tells the story of a farming family hit hard by
drought. The landscape is one of cracked earth and dying trees. A roughly
painted, corrugated iron sign says ‘Farm for
This book has a beautifully conceived structure. It begins with stillness – the kind of stillness that accompanies oppressive heat – but slowly builds in movement with the gathering storm clouds and the stirring breeze.
Huxley’s great skill as an artist is to infuse the human figure with a sense of movement and energy, particularly the female form. Dresses billow as the washing is brought in off the line. The young girl swirls and cartwheels as the first drops of rain touch her face.
A great picture book draws you into its pages. In Rain Dance, you can smell the wet earth – feel the cool relief of rain on your skin – the writing is that good.
Margaret Hamilton Books is renowned for publications of exquisite quality and Rain Dance is no exception. The reanimation of the parched landscape is mirrored in human emotion. At the story’s end, Mum’s face is wet with tears as well as rain.
While this is a timely story that
will resonate with Australian readers, it is not just a story about drought.
Rain Dance is a powerful metaphor. A story about renewal and hope flying
in the face of loss; of acceptance and nature’s ability to heal and
renew.
Rain Dance (view it online)
Author: Cathy
Applegate
Illustrator: Dee
Huxley
Publisher: Margaret Hamilton
Books
RRP: $14.95
In March 2000,
During this time, the media
spotlight fell on one tiny village where a woman, taking refuge with her family
in a tree, gave birth to her baby before finally being airlifted to safety by a
Red Cross helicopter.
This remarkable example of
resilience in the face of adversity captured the attention of the world and is
the inspiration for Jane Jolly’s debut picture storybook Limpopo Lullaby.
Jolly’s lyrical prose draws on the
images of the African landscape and the rhythms of village life to create
stunning word pictures that bring the story to life. Dee Huxley is an inspired
choice as illustrator. Following on from her fine work in Rain Dance (Margaret Hamilton Books
2000) these vibrant pastel images capture the many moods of nature, from
brooding skies to swirling, rising floodwaters. Like much of Huxley’s previous
work, the fears and joys of the human characters in Limpopo Lullaby are represented through
grace of movement – a dance of life, if you like – that seems to mirror
perfectly our emotional journey as readers.
Beneath the human drama of Limpopo Lullaby the book subtly reflects
on the paradoxical relationship between humankind and nature. In this tale,
nature is at once an unpredictable threat and a nurturing life-force.
Ultimately, this inspiring story
is as much a reminder of our need to respect nature in all her forms, as it is a
triumph of human will over adversity. Limpopo Lullaby is a memorable
experience for parents and children to share.
Limpopo Lullaby (view it online)
Author: Jane
Jolly
Illustrator: Dee
Huxley
Publisher: Limelight
Press
Hardcover RRP:
$26.95