Children’s book sure to delight

As if she doesn’t have enough on her plate, Local Court magistrate and Central Coast resident Pauline Wright has recently published her first children’s book, taking young readers on an enchanting journey into the world of bush sprites.

A partner at PJ Donnellan & Co in Gosford, Wright has filled a number of prestigious positions, including President of the Law Council of Australia (2021), President of the Council for Civil Liberties (2019) and President of the Law Society of NSW (2017).

In 2022 she was sworn in as magistrate to the Local Court, which sees 149 magistrates oversee a caseload equal to 96 per cent of criminal prosecutions and 90 per cent of civil matters before the state’s courts.

Two years ago Wright decided to write a nice story for her grandchildren but the project soon grew.

Earlier this year she published Finding the Ever Never, which she not only wrote but also illustrated and edited.

“At first I started doing pencil drawings to accompany the text, but I soon realised they needed colour and, not having painted for years and with no studio, I wasn’t quite sure how to approach that,” she said.

“Then an artist pointed me to an app I could use on my i-pad to do colour paintings and I was able to do the illustrations that way.”

Finding the Ever Never is about the last two bush sprites on earth, Quinnegan and Ettaberry, named after two of Wright’s grandchildren.

“They are brother and sister, living in the Australian bush,” she said.

“All the other bush sprites have disappeared in a big wind and their parents have also vanished and the two set out to find them.

“They hear about the Ever Never, where all wind creatures go, and think maybe that’s where they’ve gone.”

The two enlist the help of a variety of bush friends including a wombat, a wallaby and his mother, a king parrot, a cicada, a butterfly, a kookaburra, a great trout and a platypus.

The enchanting story has deeper themes.

“It is a little bit about the afterlife and, importantly, it is about how if you don’t have family to help you can always rely on friends and community,” Wright said.

She said the chapter book was written for readers aged eight to 11, but younger children would also enjoy having the book read to them as they enjoyed the colourful illustrations.

“I have already sold around 120 books and I haven’t even advertised,” Wright said.

The high-quality linen-bound book with dust cover was printed and published in Melbourne and can be ordered at https://au.blurb.com/b/11882191-finding-the-ever-never or direct from Wright.