9th February Duncan Ball (1941)

Happy birthday, Duncan Ball! You may have been born in America, but we think of you as an Australian and claim Selby and Emily Eyefinger as our own. While not all my my readers can read these two series of books independently they certainly enjoy them as serials and my good Year 2 readers revel in them. Who wouldn't want to read about a talking dog or have an extra eye in the end of one of their fingers?

And for younger readers there is always the picture books My Dog's a Scaredy-Cat and Jeremy's Tail. The latter is a great world travel yarn which begins with a game of 'Pin the tail on the donkey'.

To find out more about Duncan Ball and to research Selby see Duncan Ball's website at

www.duncanball.com.au/