An inspiring series for young and old makers by the award-winning author-illustrator team Alice Pung and Sher Rill Ng. Nine-year-old Millie Mak has discovered she has a superpower! Using everyday objects, Millie turns them into something new, beautiful and useful. Who would ever think that a sunhat could be made from an old bedsheet, a skirt from a tea-towel, or some hair scrunchies from a scarf? Through her creativity and clever thinking, Millie also deals with different friendships, tricky family challenges, and contributes to the school fete. You can make the special objects Millie creates from the detailed and yet easy-to-follow instructions included in the book. And best of all, nothing needs to be bought! From award-winning author-illustrator team, Alice Pung and Sher Rill Ng, comes the first book in an inspiring new series for young and old makers. Praise for Millie Mak the Maker: 'A gentle story about family, friendship and making old things new again.' - Deborah Abela 'I gulped Millie Mak down like a drink of fresh water. Crafty, creative, and courageous, it shines with hope, cosiness, industriousness, and a rare kind of bravery. It explores timely topics in a way that feels honest, and does so with a fierce, tender joy.' - Sophie Beer 'Clever, whip smart, with a touch of whimsy. Young readers will find the Mak and Singh families relatable and wonderfully refreshing. I loved it!' - Wai Chim 'A big-hearted book about transformation, creativity and discovery, and how we should start where we are and use what we have. It teaches us that we don't need to buy things to have things and that each of us is a maker. The potential of everything and everyone that surrounds us is unlocked in beautiful prose from Alice Pung and delightful illustrations by Sher Rill Ng. The power of kindness and kinship is at the heart of these stories.' - Jaclyn Crupi 'Millie Mak is a girl for our times - resourceful, kind, real and creative, able to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary at every turn.' - Rebecca Lim 'A celebration of creativity and ingenuity whip-stitched into an authentic and refreshingly honest portrayal of families and life in multicultural Australia - Millie Mak the Maker will warm the hearts of many young readers.' - Sue Whiting
Author
Alice was born in Footscray, Victoria, a month after her parents Kuan and Kien arrived in Australia. Alice’s father, Kuan - a survivor of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime - named her after Lewis Carroll’s character because after surviving the Killing Fields, he thought Australia was a Wonderland. Alice is the oldest of four - she has a brother, Alexander, and two sisters, Alison and Alina. Alice grew up in Footscray and Braybrook, and changed high schools five times - almost once every year! These experiences have shaped her as a writer because they taught her how to pay attention to the quiet young adults that others might overlook or miss. Alice Pung’s first book, Unpolished Gem, is an Australian bestseller which won the Australian Book Industry Newcomer of the Year Award and was shortlisted in the Victorian and NSW Premiers’ Literary awards. It was published in the UK and USA in separate editions and has been translated into several languages including Italian, German and Indonesian. Alice’s next book, Her Father’s Daughter, won the Western Australia Premier’s Award for Non-Fiction and was shortlisted for the Victorian and NSW Premiers’ Literary awards and the Queensland Literary Awards. Alice also edited the collection Growing Up Asian in Australia and her writing has appeared in the Monthly, the Age, and The Best Australian Stories and The Best Australian Essays. Alice is a qualified lawyer and still works as a legal researcher in the area of minimum wages and pay equity. She lives with her husband Nick at Janet Clarke Hall, the University of Melbourne, where she is the Artist in Residence.
