The Author - MERELYN CARTER

Merelyn Carter is an Australian author, multi-award winning singer/songwriter and musician, a mother, a wife and a grandmother. Her love for the creative, and her desire to connect with others has led her to tell her story through her autobiography ‘The Deepest Part of Me’, encourage and motivate through her book ‘Inspire’ and tell her stories in song with her husband David through their music as ‘Carter & Carter’ (www.carterandcarter.com.au).

Writing stories for her children and grandchildren has led to the teaming up with IPPY award winning illustrator Ester de Boer to create her latest gloriously illustrated children’s book ‘To the Moon and Back. Grandma’s Rocket Ship Adventure’.

Merelyn and David live in Kinglake, Victoria, on a small farm with 60 animals. Faith, family and friendship are her life priorities, bringing together people and communities to share the journey of life.

The Illustrator - Ester de Boer

Growing up barefoot in far North Queensland, Ester attributes lack of tv, a general ban on the word “bored” (punishable by housework!) and parents who were great storytellers as being the reasons why she developed her creativity. After years of awkwardly squeezing into the nine-to-five, Ester finally studied and began to exhibit her art in her thirties, before being approached to illustrate a number of children’s books.

In 2015 she Illustrated Imagine by Emma Mactaggart (Boogie Books), which won GOLD Best Children's Illustrated eBook at the 2015 IPPY Awards, USA and one of the illustrations 'Lyrebird' was selected for exhibition in the Book Illustrated Gallery, for the Asian Festival for Children's Content.

As a primary teacher, Ester “tested” To the Moon and Back on a creative panel of very discerning 6-7 year old judges- so big thanks to the kids who pointed out that 1) Red rocket ships go super faster and 2) “the moon’s anti-gravity is good for grannies who are fat with arthritis”.

Ester de Boer Illustrator statement: To the Moon and Back

To the moon and back is a simple, playful story about a little girl and her grandma who get whizzed off un-expectantly on a space adventure. I wanted to give a sense of the little girl drawing the scenes with her own imagination, changing the ordinary things around her into the fantastical.

To see the story through children’s eyes, I read it to a class who advised me that a bright red rocket with a lightning bolt along the side would be “super-fast”! For Grandma, I have to thank one very serious little chap, who quietly informed me that “going to the moon would be good for grandmas, as the zero gravity would help their arthritis if they’re fat”.

I added a little stowaway in the form of one of the “big cheeky pelicans” on the lake. It enabled me to create incidental, comical scenarios not in the text. By the time they return to earth it’s nightfall, and the moon is so large it’s as though they have brought it back with them.