Dymocks Discovery Bay Every Tues, Thurs & Sat

Karmel Schreyer can't stop writing children's books – her two daughters, Emi and Blaise, won't allow it. Ever since the Canadian wrote a story about Emi (Empress Emi-poo: A story about learning to love your potty), the real-life Blaise has been patiently awaiting her own adventure.

Luckily for us, Blaise's determination brought a second book to her mother's illustrated Empress (soon-to-be) trilogy: Empress Blaze Moon: A story about never giving up. The fruit of Karmel's (and Blaise's) hard work is a fantastic story centred around the fictional Blaze waking to find her beloved moon missing. This sets her on the difficult mission of overcoming her fears to search out the absent orb in her house.

Floating through the story and accompanying each page are large, dreamy illustrations by local artist Adeline Ko. On flipping to the back of the book, a page documenting the moon's cycles can be found that also suggests moon-watching activities for parents and children.

Schreyer writes for a range of ages, and most of her stories are educational with a sense of adventure. Her literary adventurousness can be attributed to her own travels, which she embarked upon at a young age when her father was Governor General of Canada. It wasn't long after that the Manitoba native went exploring the world and was eventually delivered to our shores.

Now a seasoned Discovery Bay resident, Schreyer can be found at her regular readings for kids at Dymocks bookshops. From these readings, the author has learned what children love and loathe at story time. This comes in handy when writing her books, which appeal to even the youngest of learners. Over Chinese New Year and throughout the month of February, Schreyer will read from her most recent lunar-centric creation.

If you still haven't picked up a copy of Empress Blaze Moon, knowing that Schreyer will donate $20 per book from her personal sales to Haitian earthquake relief should prompt you into action.

Andrew James

To buy Empress Blaze Moon and donate to the Haitian earthquake relief, contact the author at: kardar@netvigator.com. Each sale contributes $20 to charity.Catch Karmel Schreyer reading from Empress Blaze Moon every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday in February at Dymocks Discovery Bay at 10.30am.