Sally Rippin was born in Darwin, but grew up mainly in South-East Asia. As a young adult she lived in China for three years, studying traditional Chinese painting. Sally has over seventy books published, many of them award-winning, including two novels for young adults. Her most recent work includes the highly acclaimed children’s novel Angel Creek and the popular Billie B Brown books, which became the highest selling series for 6-8 year olds in Australia within the first year of their release. Sally is Australia’s highest selling female author and her Billie B Brown books have sold more than 4.5 million copies in 14 languages. Sally is a popular presenter in schools and at literary festivals both in Australia and overseas and has a regular program on 3RRR interviewing children’s authors and industry professionals. She is a passionate ambassador for the 100 Story Building creative writing centre for marginalized youth and has mentored many emerging writers and illustrators. Recently, she and her partner co-founded Story Peddlers, a hand-made performance tent that packs away into a custom-built bike, with the aim of bringing back the art of the roving storyteller.
I think that every kid has that 'oops moment' with a pair of scissors. For awhile there I thought the dolls were going to get cropped and I was relieved when that proved to not be the case. Good grief, Billie B, put away those scissors!
Dealing with another common childhood theme - haircuts on dolls and sometimes on people, too - Billie's predicament(s) got a few smiles out of me.
And a doll named Stinky!
Each book has a conflict between Billie and her best friend Jack, but friendship always wins out in the end. The books all send a good message without preaching about it.
Read this out loud with my five year old girl. She enjoyed the story and simple illustrations. It was simple enough to finish in one sitting! We will be reading more Billie B. Brown!
5-Sally Rippin, “Billie B Brown: The Beautiful Haircut” (Prahran, Victoria, Aust: Hardie Grant Egmont, 2010). “Oh yes, they (scissors) are very sharp. Billie's pigtail falls into the sink! It lies there looking like a little furry mouse.” (p26)
The 'Billie B Brown' series by Australian author Sally Rippin is a wonderful set of books helping young kids acknowledge and deal with their range of emotions that arise from various childhood predicaments. These books reinforce the positive outcome of good decision making.
The Billie B Brown books are great for first chapter readers. These are especially nice because they were written with an eye to help children with dyslexia. There are no hyphenated words from page to page, and the font and page color also help reading.
Reminds me of the days when I used to give my dolls haircuts - living the illusion that their hair would grow back. It's a cute little chapter book, and perfect for kids moving from picture flats to their first chapter book.