Rodney Stevens

The coastal paradise of Brooms Head and its fascinating fauna feature in a new series of children’s books by Lower Clarence author Jackie Young centred around the inquisitive lead character Christopher Crabbe.

The first book in the series “The World of Christopher Crabbe” was penned by Ms Young, who splits her time between the Lower Clarence and Sydney, is related to the Young’s from Chatsworth Island, Harwood and Maclean, and illustrated by fantastic Clarence Valley artist Ian Versace of Woodford Island.

Following a career as a teacher, working in museums, and making documentaries, Ms Young said idea for the series “The World of Christopher Crabbe” was born after she won a position in an online digital story world competition more than a decade ago.

“I already had the story of Christopher Crabbe and I love Brooms Head, that’s my favourite place,” she said.

“He jumped into my head about 12 years ago, so I created a digital story world for Christopher Crabbe and started seriously writing stories…now I have about 10 written in the series The World of Christopher Crabbe that are all set around Brooms Head.”

More than 12 months ago, Ms Young said she was introduced to local watercolour artist Ian Versace by her cousin Jill, and they decided to collaborate and use his illustrations in her first book in the series “Christopher Crabbe and the Big Hairy Giant”.

“He has done some beautiful illustrations, they’re just stunning,” she said.

Christopher Crabbe and the Big Hairy Giant tells the story of Christopher, a tiny sand bubbler crab who lives with his family at Brooms Head, a long sandy beach complete with a lagoon in the Yuraygir National Park.

In addition to devising the story and writing the book, Ms Young said she also self-published her first book in the planned series of 10.

“Christopher Crabbe is naughty, but everybody on the beach loves him because he just goes adventuring and meeting all of these beach creatures, the pelicans, and he loves going to the lagoon.

“He’s a very curious little crab, he’s not allowed to go near the boat ramp, but he does sometimes, and his best friend is Peter Pelican.

“I self-published the book, I taught myself how to do that, and it has come up really well.”

Ms Young said the series of books will feature different local creatures who all have their own personalities which are part of Christopher Crabbe’s adventures, with the beautiful natural environment and the beaches featuring in the magnificent illustrations.

The next book in the series currently in production is Christopher Crabbe and the Pelican picnic.

As part of the 2023 Clarence Valley Plunge Art and Culture Festival, Ms Young and Mr Versace did a book signing and painting at Botero Maclean last Friday and over the weekend.

Christopher Crabbe and the Big Hairy Giant is for sale online at Amazon, Dymocks and at Maclean Framing and Gallery, River Street Maclean.