Wide Big World

Maxine Beneba Clarke is an Australian poet and writer of Afro-Caribbean descent. She is the ABIA and Indie award-winning author of Carrying the World (2016), Foreign Soil (2017) and The Hate Race (2018). She is the author of five books for children, including the CBCA and Boston Globe/Horn Prize award-winning picture book The Patchwork Bike (2016, illustrated by Van T Rudd), and the critically acclaimed Wide Big World (2018, illustrated by Isobel Knowles). Maxine is the author-illustrator of two picture books, Fashionista (2019) and When We Say Black Lives Matter (2020). She also illustrated the picture book 11 Words for Love (2022), written by Randa Abdel-Fattah. We Know A Place is the third picture book she has both written and illustrated. Isobel Knowles is a Melbourne based award-winning artist and animator. Her multidisciplinary practice spans short film, interactive installation, cross-platform performance, music, painting, photography and illustration. Her most recent achievements include winning the 2010 Premier of QLD's National New Media Art Award, being given an Award of Distinction at the 2012 Ars Electronica Festival and has published two children's books Owl Know How and Too Much for Turtle.

Wide Big World is a cheerful and direct celebration of difference that uses the natural wonders of the world to highlight the diversity of experiences around us ... This book would be a great starting point for conversations about fostering positive relationships with others and taking the initiative to practice inclusivity, both at home and at school.