The Shop on the Corner is a whimsical tale about Frieda, a young girl whose dreams come true one special Christmas. As Frieda peers through the window of the mysterious shop on the corner, it seems a world apart, a wondrous place, a place where anything is possible. When Frieda gathers the courage to push open the door, she is swept along on a magical journey where Christmas decorations and toys come to life. She takes flight on a flying horse through the starry sky, high above her cares. Then when Frieda finally returns home, it is to find waiting for her, the best Christmas surprise ever...
Joanne Creed is a children’s author from Ipswich, Queensland. She has a great love of everything whimsical, as well as long-eared bunnies and fluffy white dogs. She believes that she was born to live in an English cottage by the sea. Joanne was a finalist in the Share Your Story Christmas competition in 2018. Her short story, Laney’s Gingerbread House, is featured in their inaugural publication, It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas. The Shop on the Corner is her first picture book. It was inspired by a childhood visit to a magical shop in the company of her much loved grandmother. Though she tried to revisit the same shop that had captured her imagination, she was never able to find it again. Though Joanne loves nothing better than dreaming the day away, playing with her characters and weaving plots, she is also a wife, mother midwife, neonatal nurse and child advocate. It is her ultimate goal to reach out to others through her books.
Ester de Boer lives in Gippsland in a crumbling gingerbread cottage, where she grows veggies, writes stories, plays music, and is stalked by several cats. She loves creating illustrations that are lively, magical and filled with tiny details, so that the reader can discover something new every time they brush through the pages. While Ester has had a lot of training as an artist, she has learned illustration on the go, with encouraging results: one of her first books, Imagine (written by Emma Mactaggart), won gold for Best Children’s Illustrated eBook at the 2015 IPPY Awards in New York, USA and her illustration, Lyrebird, was selected for exhibition in the Asian Festival for Children’s Content in Singapore. Lily Fabourama Glamourama, her second book with Emma Mactaggart, also won silver at the IPPY Awards. Before she drew a single line for The Shop on the Corner, Ester made the entire village as well as an open model of the Christmas Shop, and lit them with tiny candles in the dark, just so that she could create the most Christmassy Christmas Book ever! You can see photos of it (alongside her other illustrations) on www.esterdeboerillustration.com
* Gift book quality book with a spine that presents well on a shelf.
* Beautifully illustrated by award-winner Ester de Boer.
* The sort of classic book which would not only appeal to Grandmothers, but could easily become a favourite for the whole family, to be pulled out and enjoyed every Christmas for years to come.
