That Bird Has Arms by Kate Temple & Jol Temple, illustrated by Niharika Hukku & Ronojoy Ghosh
(published by Little Hare, an imprint of Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing)
Inside the CBCA Shortlist
Inside the 2024 CBCA Shortlist
Kate and Jol Temple have made a remarkable impact on the children’s book world. Their books span picture books, chapter books and graphic novels. Some highlights I have seen are the clever, poignant Room on Our Rock (which I have presented at conferences in Greece, NZ and elsewhere when speaking about books about refugees) and the accompanying Move That Mountain; the CBCA shortlisted Captain Jimmy Cook Discovers Third Grade and Captain Jimmy Cook Discovers X Marks the Spot; picture books Bin Chicken and its sequels as well as Bush Turkey; and the Trilby Moffat novels by Kate. They have also just released the very exciting Frog Squad – more about that later in the interview.
Kate and Jol’s picture book That Bird Has Arms is shortlisted in the CBCA 2024 Picture Book of the Year category. It is a contemporary fable that is hilariously funny while incisively sharing a universal dilemma.
“He thought every bird had arms. It was only when he heard the other birds chatting about how stupid arms were that he realised . . . he was different.
From that moment, Roy buried his arms into his feathers and decided never to use them.”
(That Bird Has Arms)
Author Interview: Kate & Jol Temple
Congratulations on That Bird Has Arms being CBCA shortlisted, Kate & Jol, and thank you for speaking to Joy in Books at PaperbarkWords blog.
That Bird Has Arms is an arresting title. Why a bird?
Because birds don’t have arms! Actually the idea for this book came about one day when I was out at a café with my two young sons. This particular day I was pretty tired and I spotted a bird on a nearby table eating crumbs, and I said to my kids, “look at that little bird eating with its hands.” My two boys looked at me and said “Mum, birds don’t have hands…” but for one tired minute, I’d forgotten that. It’s these weird little moments that are often inspiration.
That Bird Has Arms is such fun. What is the genesis of the humour?
I think what makes the story special is that it’s such a clash. It’s a clash of humour and heart. It’s a clash of modern pop culture, new media and also our inner life and how we see ourselves. It’s also a beautiful clash of visual styles. Two extraordinary artists with very different practices have come together and that’s no easy task. Ronojoy and Niharika have done a beautiful job.
The book is also bitter-sweet in how feeling different, and being ridiculed for difference, can escalate into isolation, changing and diminishing personality and acting out. You share weighty themes in such a thought-provoking and appealing way.
What response have you had from readers that shows they ‘got it’ and may now either understand or accept themselves or others better?
What we really wanted to do with this story about self-acceptance is not just celebrate difference but also take a moment to acknowledge that when people feel bullied or attacked for who they are, at their core, they don’t always react with grace. This can often lead to a cycle of becoming ‘that kid’ that behaves badly. We wanted to create some empathy around those difficult moments instead of glossing over them. Sometimes we do ‘feel mad, bad and sad’ and when we read that low point of the story to kids you can feel the room go silent and you can feel the recognition. But don’t worry, we don’t leave our reader there!
What delights or entertains you about the illustrations?
Oh my goodness… how incredible are those illustrations! Actually, it’s probably not accurate for me to call them illustrations because the mixed media and collaboration between Ronojoy and Niharika is a work of art. She painstakingly painted those stunning hyper-realist birds and mixing them with the silliness of the collage makes them hysterical but also beautiful. I know it took them so long to get that right.
Which illustration particularly captures the spirit of your tale? Why?
The gorgeous picture of Roy realising his power and talent and coming to the rescue. It’s majestic.
That Bird Has Arms has a big team of 4 acknowledged creators. How did that collaboration work?
It’s really a wild thing when you think of a book being made by four people. It wasn’t a cake walk that’s for sure. Both Ronojoy and Niharika have very high standards and I know they spent so long thinking and trialling ways of making this work. The one thing we all tried to do was ensure, it never got too worthy. It needed to be silly to land the important message. We love working with both of them, they are such talents and to see Niharika’s stunning birds in this book is a joy.
You are wildly popular on the festival circuit and for school visits. Here’s a sneak peek into what children love about Kate and Jol’s appearances.
That’s very kind of you! We really enjoy doing them too. I think what kids like is that the visits are a lot of fun. We are very serious about fun.
How do you think this leads to children reading?
As Emmanuel Macron once said, “I don’t think, I know.” We believe that reading cultures are built by reading for pleasure and life-long readers become life-long thinkers. It’s essential that we are not judgy about the books kids read, instead we think the momentum of reading for pleasure is what enables kids to reach for books they could otherwise not read.
What impact has That Bird Has Arms being recognised as a CBCA Picture Book of the Year had on you or this book?
To be honest, this is a weird book and a special book and I didn’t expect it to be noticed. We are very happy that is has, because it has a super important role to play particularly when it comes to conversations not just about self acceptance but also about media literacy. It’s never been more important for us to foster critical thinking in children, they are bombarded with dubious messages all the time and I’d like to think that a book like this can help them think about the language we use online and give them agency.
I read that your new book Frog Squad is the biggest selling book of all time at the Sydney Writers’ Festival. Congratulations, that’s incredible. It has outsold every title by all other authors for children, as well as adults, including international authors! Please tell us something about this book.
Isn’t that wild! We are so excited kids are loving Frog Squad. It’s a book about a team of rescue frogs that don’t just eat flies, THEY EAT DANGER! The book is a bit strange because it’s not actually a book, it’s written as a reality TV show. And what does every reality TV show have in common? Ad breaks! So Jol’s written all these froggy ad breaks that interrupt the story. I think kids are loving that, but it’s also given us another opportunity to explore media literacy and ask questions about how we are spoken to by advertisers, what language do they use? I think these questions are really critical right now because it’s never been harder to tell if something is an ad or if it’s not. We are also seeing teachers using this book to get their classes writing their own silly ads and we’re looking forward to running some workshops with students this year creating our own ridiculous products and writing ads for them.
The other thing about this book is it’s really silly, but it’s also about our environment and we’re keen to be a part of that discussion.
What have you been reading that you would like to recommend?
Nathan Luff’s Family Disasters series, Sue Whiting’s Pearly and Pig.
In bigger fiction we’ve loved: To and Fro by Anton Clifford-Motop
Can’t wait to get my hands on the new Adrian Beck book: Brock the Crock
How can your readers contact you?
Instagram is always good: katejoltemple.com and we have a website with loads of teacher resources: katejoltemple.com
That Bird Has Arms at Little Hare, Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing
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