‘I’m so lucky to live on this beautiful dairy farm, it’s a writer’s paradise,’ Courtney said at the online launch of Rusty. ‘My kids see the farm in this magical way. As adults, we see the farm as a whole lot of bloody work, to be honest, but the kids see it as this place full of magic adventure and stories, and so … it kind of felt natural to start writing these stories.
‘And Rusty the tractor is based on the tractor behind me. We think it’s 70 years old – an old John Deere tractor – which first belonged to my husband’s grandfather.’
In the story, Rusty counts down his tasks for the day, never giving up, and along the way we see farm life, native animals, and then a restful goodnight. Kids learn numbers as they count down from five and a range of common farm activities such as ploughing field and herding sheep. They’ll also learn to identify a range of farm and native animals and as Rusty falls asleep for the night, hopefully young readers will too!
‘But I think the most important lesson from Rusty is never giving up. It’s a book that encourages resilience no matter how old or worn you are, whatever the challenges …’ Courtney says.
The book is beautifully illustrated by Elyssa Hallett in a collage style inspired by Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar. ‘I used a photo from Courtney’s farm and my first illustration was bright and playful, full of adventure and true to the vision of Courtney’s story,’ Elyssa said.
To learn more about how Elyssa developed the illustrations for Rusty, watch our online book launch (at about 16:40)