We Know a Place

A joyous illustrated tribute to bookshops everywhere, and the special place they hold in children's hearts and minds, from of one Australia's most beloved writers.

We know a place that's mysterious-magic,

a window to lives you can't even imagine.

We know a secret world-wakening secret,

a brain-boggling secret, on Ballarat Street.

Every Saturday, when the chores are done, two children set out on a journey to their local bookshop, a magical place where sneaky stories escape as you peep in the door and there's plentiful magic for each and for all. Monsters, giants, trolls and pirates ahoy! But what happens when some cheeky creatures follow the children home one day?

A playful love letter to those wondrous places where secrets and magic live around every corner and between every cover.

Written and illustrated by the award-winning Maxine Beneba Clarke as a celebration of the joy of reading, the magic of community and her own favourite bookshop.

'With Maxine Beneba Clarke's trademark melodious language, which is so vivid it seems to leap off each page, this joyful read-aloud is perfect for storytime . . . A glorious expression of the joy and wonder of reading. Young bookworms and their families will cherish this love letter to bookshops' BOOKS+PUBLISHING

'A beautiful tribute . . . Like young imaginations, Beneba Clarke's illustrations literally fill the pages so they brim with colour' GOOD READING MAGAZINE

'A fun and vivid story . . . With beautiful, textured illustrations, We Know a Place is a love letter to bookshops and the magic they provide' READINGS, Best Picture Books of 2023

Maxine Beneba Clarke is an Australian poet and writer of Afro-Caribbean descent. She is the ABIA and Indie award-winning author of Carrying the World (2016), Foreign Soil (2017) and The Hate Race (2018). She is the author of five books for children, including the CBCA and Boston Globe/Horn Prize award-winning picture book The Patchwork Bike (2016, illustrated by Van T Rudd), and the critically acclaimed Wide Big World (2018, illustrated by Isobel Knowles). Maxine is the author-illustrator of two picture books, Fashionista (2019) and When We Say Black Lives Matter (2020). She also illustrated the picture book 11 Words for Love (2022), written by Randa Abdel-Fattah. We Know A Place is the third picture book she has both written and illustrated.

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