Around the Block is a wonderfully illustrated book written for children (and grown-ups); we have been working on it over the past year with all illustrations and text now in place… it’s ready to publish. With your amazing support into the printing cost, Pozible will be able to turn this picture book idea into reality!

Around the Block is an illustrated story starring three siblings Finlay, Tilda and Marlo; they all love scootering around the block discovering the neighbourhood… friendly cats, growling dogs, scary houses and gardens that inspire the imagination. There are so many types of houses in Australia, each with their own personality and story.

Nowadays we often ignore what is around us as we are often looking down at our smartphones. We hope this book encourages imagination and inspires readers to be an observer of their surroundings. Curiosity is the spark behind the spark of every great idea! Perhaps you may want to go for a walk, look around and start to connect yourself to your surroundings now!

Around the Block will be printed as 24 pages, full colour with hardcover. The hardcover would be a gloss laminated wrapped over 2mm boxboard and inside pages would be on a 150gsm paper stock; the boxboard cover ensures the durability long-term especially when it will be handle by children. The book would be able to fit in a backpack and will contain a discovery game for children to play after reading the story. Our book is print-ready and will be bound and printed locally in Melbourne, Victoria.

The idea for the book came about after one of our team members Quentin was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease and while it was a terrible shock for him, it has given him the opportunity to reflect and consider life with a little more clarity. Inspired by the conversations and observations of his three children he decided to write. This simple story highlights the things we take for granted and the joy children get from what is the everyday background to our lives. Like all young families, an evening walk, ride or scooter around the block is a great way to spend time with family and discover the neighbourhood, taking the edge of what is often a full and hectic day. As an illustrator, I see the journey around the block in every Melbourne suburb as a world within, a taste of freedom within cooee of home. Far enough yet close enough to hoist a little one onto the shoulders for a ride home.

We are self-publishing so all of the money raised through this Pozible campaign will go into high-quality hard-covers, bounding, printing and the costs like the ISBN, Pozible fees and rewards. We are aiming to get 200 full colour books printed and bound locally in Melbourne, Victoria.

If we exceed our fund target we will print 500 books and put the funding toward an e-book development.

Once the book is printed, we will do the distribution and marketing at design markets and also available for purchase online. We hope to introduce the book to bookshops and artist markets in Melbourne.

It isn’t easy for Quentin to deal with Parkinson’s Disease as is a progressively degenerative condition but it is an inspiration to see how he get motivated in regardless of his condition. It is my honour to work on this project with him.

Time management was a challenge; from start, refine, revise to complete all illustrations, layout of the book, sourcing printers and having team meetings in between our spare time while working full time wasn’t easy. However we are glad to received a lot of support from our family and friends. And we have reached to the point we are happy with the result, so all good!

The coming challenges will be management such as this Pozible campaign as well our marketing plan.

The marketing and distribution of the book are going to be a key success of the project. We are going to have a stall at Artist Market and have some bookshop contacts that is ready to go. We hope the book will appeal to locals as well tourists.

Candy Ng is a freelance Graphic Artist based in Melbourne, you can see some of her work on her website: Thoughts Come True or Follow Her on Instagram

Quentin work as Creative Director and co-founder of the design agency, Canyon for over 7 years. You can see some of his company’s work on: Canyon Brand