Book Week usually sees its fair share of Harry Potters and Hermione Grangers, Cats in the Hat and Alices in Wonderland.
But this year, a fresh character made her debut on the playground - a little girl in a red dress, odd socks, high tops and swinging ponytail, a new kid on the block in the world of literature, but one who had very quickly found a legion of fans.
She was Stevie Louise, the confident-on-the-outside-still-shy-on-the-inside 12-year-old created by comedian and former Canberra radio presenter Tanya Hennessy in her first book, Drum Roll Please, It's Stevie Louis.
For an author writing for the hard-to-impress tween market, there must be no greater feeling of achievement than to have their young readers choose their character to emulate at Book Week. Hennessy said there were at least 300 Stevie Louises who tagged her on social media this year. It was a true thrill.
"Mum's still got photos of me dressed up as Cat in the Hat for Book Week when she, like, drew whiskers on my face with eyeliner," she said, with a laugh.
"But it was so cute. People were like, 'How do we do the Stevie dress?'. It was just mind-boggling that these kids were identifying so much with a character I created. It took me a while to realise but she definitely has elements of me. I mean, she's way cooler than me but so many kids connect to this character, which makes me think, 'Thank God, I did this'."
And, to the joy of those fans, there is now a second Stevie Louis book, again beautifully illustrated by Leigh Hedstrom. Spotlight Please, It's Stevie Louise was published this week - the kids this time entering a talent quest to keep their local theatre dreams alive, showing they are capable of achieving much, that kids can't be underestimated, while also allowing Hennessy to hark back to her youth theatre days in hometown Newcastle.
She was also keen to have Stevie's friend Alex, a queer kid, to be the star of the show this time around. And Stevie was back as sassy and ambitious as ever, creating something with her friends, the book never falling into the junior fiction trap of one fart joke after another.
"I've been reading a bunch more junior fiction and there's not a lot of female writers in Australia," Hennessy says.
"I tried to buy a bunch but they're all American or British and it's interesting there are not a lot of women writing in that space."
There also seems to be a big market for "boy books", yet a limited one for girls, even though she believes there shouldn't be a distinction.
"For 'the girls' there's crime and detective-y stuff but girls can be funny and want to read funny things as well. The gender divide is just so interesting," she says.
The feedback for the second book was almost instant, with kids approaching her to say what they thought about the book and giving her ideas for the next one.
"Kids will tell you if they hate something, the are super honest. But they read Stevie multiple times, and they each saw themselves in the different characters."
Hennessy also revealed this week she'd been asked to do story time on Play School, saying it was a "dream come true".
"Literally one of those pinch-me moments. I couldn't stop smiling," she says. "I grew up watching Noni and Bonita and to be on the show was wild. The director, the producers, props, camera girls were all so warm and beautiful, you can tell they all love their jobs so much. It was an honour to be asked."
It's a bitter irony that while Hennessy continues to publicly find her voice writing for kids, she is privately struggling with having a child of her own with long-time partner Tom Poole.
She has been public about her fertility struggle but the couple have recently welcomed a new member of the family, Butter the corgi. "I guess I didn't realise how necessary this dog would be. I mean, it's brought us so much joy," she says. "We love him so much. We're such sooks with this dog. We're dog parents now."
Hennessy says book tours could be on the cards, but it's still difficult to negotiate, post-COVID. "I want to go back to my old school to talk to the kids but also see what's on the canteen menu," she says with a laugh.
The past COVID lockdowns turned out to be a blessing in disguise as Hennessy used it as an opportunity to create an exclusive merch shop with Stevie scrunchies, socks and resilience-themed quote cards quickly selling out. As for what's next, she says there's "probably one more Stevie book in me".
"Then I'm going to write some fantasy for kids. I'm also writing an adult book, which is probably the most honest thing I've ever written. I can't say yet what it's about but it's non-fiction, sort of autobiographical, but talking about things I've never talked about before. I'm terrified but I know I have to write it and get it out."
She also has funding to create a live comedy show about "Tracey the hairdresser from Bathurst", based on her YouTube clips, which she hopes to take on the road.
"I just feel really creatively energised at the moment. I'm making stuff that I really like and care about. Thank God."
- Spotlight Please, It's Stevie Louise is published by Allen and Unwin. RRP $14.99
