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Kim Gamble Kim Gamble i(A41428 works by) (a.k.a. Kim Hunter Gamble)
Born: Established: Sydney, New South Wales, ; Died: Ceased: 19 Feb 2016
Gender: Male
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BiographyHistory

Born in Sydney, Kim Gamble grew up with a love of drawing and painting. He trained to be an infant teacher but at the age of 36 embarked on a career illustrating stories for children. His first assignment was for the NSW School Magazine in 1988. He has worked with author Anna Fienberg to produce over twenty books for children, the first of which, The Magnificent Nose and Other Marvels (1991), won the Children's Book Council of Australia's Book of the Year for Younger Readers Award and the Chrichton Award for the illustrations in 1992. This highly successful collaboration has produced the Tashi books, the Minton series and Joseph, a retelling of the biblical story. For this latter work, Gamble took the opportunity to explore oils in a looser and freer style of painting, using lots of light, colour, atmosphere, symbols and a sense of menace. Other books illustrated by Gamble include The Hottest Boy Who Ever Lived (1993), Come the Terrible Tiger (1993), with Rosalind Price, and Dear Fred (1994) with Susanna Rodell. The Lane Cove River, the river of his childhood, was the inspiration for the setting of Bunyips Don't! (1997), written by Mike Dumbleton. In 2001 Pog, written by Lyn Lee, was named as Honour Book in the CBC Book of the Year Awards. Gamble works as a full-time illustrator and makes school visits all over Australia, where he has inspired numerous students and teachers with his hands-on approach.

Most Referenced Works

Personal Awards

1992 winner CBCA Book of the Year Awards CBCA Award for New Illustrator for the illustrations for the selected work of short stories for children The Magnificent Nose and Other Marvels.

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Eight Malvern : Omnibus Books , 2006 Z1320754 2006 single work picture book children's

'Eight is a plush toy octopus. He and Timmy have been together for a long time, and he is a special toy, the one that goes to bed with Timmy and sometimes even to school with him, too. They are almost inseparable. One day, Timmy and Mum and Dad go for a picnic in the national park, and Eight comes too. They go for a walk in the bush and a row on the river and play near the water.

'Suddenly it starts to rain, and Mum and Dad and Timmy gather all the picnic things together quickly and pack up and go home. It’s raining heavily now, but Timmy has a hot bath and something to eat and goes to bed. As the storm goes on outside, Timmy wakes in horror to find that Eight is not in bed with him. He must still be at the picnic spot in the national park! Timmy and his parents go to look for Eight the next day, but he is nowhere to be found. Timmy is sad to lose his friend, and wonders about what he is doing. Dad suggests that maybe Eight woke early, and made a raft and sailed down the river. What would he do if he met pirates, Timmy wonders.

'While Timmy returns to life without Eight, his toy has many adventures, which may be just in Timmy’s imagination, or not ... One day Timmy and Dad are down by the water again, and Timmy is looking in the shallows, finding interesting things. At first he finds a bucket which looks a little like one he has played with once before, and which Eight might even have used for a pirate’s hat. He sees something stuck in a mangrove and pulls out a very sodden Eight! They take him home for a spin in the washing machine and the clothes drier, and Eight is as good as new.

'Timmy feels now that his friend can sit on his shelf where the boy can see him, as Eight is big and strong enough and brave enough to sleep on his own.' (Publication summary)

2007 shortlisted CBCA Book of the Year Awards Book of the Year: Early Childhood
y separately published work icon There Once Was a Boy Called Tashi Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2004 Z1153590 2004 single work picture book children's 'A spectacular full-colour picture book that takes you into the magical world of Tashi.' (Publisher's website)
2004 shortlisted Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction Children's Division Short Fiction
y separately published work icon A Bee in Ben's Bonnet Milsons Point : Random House , 2002 Z974213 2002 single work picture book children's humour Ben lives in a very large house with his very large family. He wants his very large family to celebrate his birthday, so he leaves his room to ask them, one by one. Ben feels that his birthday has been forgotten and that everyone is too busy to give him any attention, until he gets a surprise at the end. This picture book uses popular cliches or expressions to tell its story, so that children are introduced to popular and colloquial sayings.
2003 winner Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Awards Best Language Development Book
Last amended 22 Feb 2016 09:04:12
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