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Rhonda M. Tallnash
Rhonda Tallnash from Violet Town, Victoria is a children's book author and special educationalist with 30 years experience in education who has released the initial tales in two series of children's books and another about a fairly familiar bloke called Ned. She wrote most of the books two decades ago after running out of reading material to interest her students who were often reluctant readers and listeners. Her books are the bridge between easy picture books and chapter books which is an area devoid of interesting material in the current market not only for reluctant readers, but also for younger children who display advanced reading skills.
Raised in Research Victoria when it was still a rural community, Rhonda writes about the animals she has known and quirky things that take her interest. Only writing in rhyme due to a warped mind, Rhonda knows well that children require a solid foundation of oral language to build literacy skills and uses rhyme and humour to assist this.
All her books proudly boast being Australian products using Australian humour, language and artistic expertise. The American culture and language to which so many of our children are constantly exposed just makes Rhonda cringe! She is so proud to say that these books are true blue fair dinkum Aussie, right down to being printed in Shepparton by Prominent Press.
Rhonda has had no interest in her books from the main publishing houses. As Rhonda says, "It's a pity really. I have parents who tell me that their child knows 'Beware of Lulu' or 'Don't Mess with Frederick!' by heart, or now they have to visit Glenrowan because their child wants to know more about Ned Kelly after reading 'Fair Dinkum Ned'. If you consider that I've sold over 6,000 books from my home in Violet Town in just over three years when they haven't been seriously marketed in Sydney or Melbourne at all, I still shake my head that no-one in the publishing world seems interested."
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