This is a brief, fast-paced rhyming adventure of a small boy Micah’s ‘dream inside a dream’ of meeting a Manticore – a mythical (Persian) creature who in this instance bears the face of a man, the body of a lion, horns of a gazelle and the wings of a flamingo. Those features are drawn from Micah’s original dream of a ‘wild hullaballoo’ of lions, flamingos and gazelles. He is woken – or thinks he is woken – by the commotion caused by the crash landing of a sneezing, lost beast called Marco in his backyard. Micah travels on Marco’s back to his home to attend the ‘grand party’. He discovers that Manticores exist along with a host of other creatures who were thought to have departed earth, at least according to Micah’s parents. Micah and Marco attend the raucous grand party and, exhausted, return home. Micah is woken to the sound of his dad playfully scolding him for sleeping in. The story ends with Micah thinking that it was just a dream but Marco peering through the bedroom window.
Nick Dyrenfurth is a Melborune-based writer and academic. He is the Executive Director of the John Curtin Research Centre. Nick is the author and/or editor of eight non-fiction books, including A Little History of the Australian Labor Party (2011), Mateship: A Very Australian History (2015), 'A powerful influence on Australian affairs': A new history of the AWU (2017), Heroes and Villains: the Rise and Fall of the Early Australian Labor Party (2011), and Getting the Blues: The Future of Australian Labor (2019). Nick is a leading media commentator writing for The Age, The Saturday Paper, The Australian, Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Financial Review, Daily Telegraph, The Monthly, and regularly appears on radio and television. Manticores are not Real is his first children's book. Nick lives in Melbourne with his partner and three children. Caulfield South, VIC. Andrew McIntosh is a part time digital illustrator from Melbourne, Australia. Ever since Andrew can remember, he has had a pencil and paper on hand. He started his artistic career in the video games industry focusing on Pixel art, 3D modelling and UI design. In his spare time, Andrew paints whimsical characters and scenes which are greatly inspired by nature. Since 2015, Andrew has pursued his aspiration to illustrate children's books and hopes to write one of his own in the future.
* Manticores are not Real is a lively book which will appeal to parents who would like their children to be exposed to new, fun vocabulary.
* The book is unique as the Manticore has not featured as a lead character in such a title.
* The book has universal appeal – it celebrates the imagination, innocence and wonder of childhood – and is visually striking.
