About

Introduction

As you can see, James Foley and I have begun work on a new picture book called The Last Viking. Essentially, it’s about a timid boy who thinks that by turning himself into a Viking he will automatically become as brave as a Viking warrior. He takes on the viking name ‘Knut’- that’s where the name of the blog comes from. There was a real viking king called Knut-  we’ll tell you about him later.

We have a dilemma though. A blog is a good way to generate interest in the book, but, on the other hand, how much of the plot and the illustrations do we give away as we go before we spoil the surprise of the actual finished work, so that no one will want to buy a copy?

I’ve decided the only way is to get started, make the blog up as we go along, and see where the ride takes us. If I’m going to be surprised where we end up, then, hopefully, you will be too.

The Creators:

Norman

This is my ninth book and the one I have enjoyed working on the most so far.  My most popular is the picture book, In Flanders Fields, beautifully illustrated by Brain Harrison-Lever and winner of the Children‘s Book Council’s Picture Book of the Year Award, and my most recent book is a historical novel set on Rottnest Island, called Jack‘s Island , which won the best WA book in the Western Australian Young Reader Book Awards, a children’s choice award. And, boy, was I pleased with that.

I’ll let James introduce himself…

James

Cheers Norm. Hi everyone. I’ve been a part-time cartoonist for 7 years- if you’re from Western Australia, you might have seen my drawings on the front of the Quokka newspaper.

This is my first proper published picture book- I’ve been wanting to do this ever since I entered the ‘Make Your Own Storybook’ competition in year 6 and year 7 (that was back in 1993/1994).  I’m very excited about this book, and I hope you get excited too as we share the process.

Jack's Island, by Norman Jorgensen

A cover from the Quokka newspaper, by James Foley