The Mumbling Gum Blossom

Journey through the Australian bush with Acacia, Grevillea and Hakea, the gum blossoms, who live in Wattle Brush. Another gum blossom, Myrtle, has just arrived in Gum Tree Street. She has a tricky name and finds it hard to say.
Discover how the gum blossoms become friends and go on an adventure through the Australian bush.
Travel to Dead Dog Gully, Trundle Creek, Murrumbumble Mountain, and Haphazard Hollow with Myrtle and her newfound friends to find out how the bush animals delight in teaching her to say her name.

Jillian Burgess is an Australian speech communication specialist with a love of teaching. Her career spans 50 years.She is vice-president of the Australian Speech Communication Association (ASCA) and has examined and adjudicated since 1984. She is a founding member of the Australian Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships (AIDPSC) and the Australasian Debating and Public Speaking Championships (ADPSC).Her love of storytelling and language acquisition led to her writing The Mumbling Gum Blossom, a play written in 1995 which was produced with a Year 2 speech class at a school in Sydney, Australia. This fictional story evolved from the play in the hope it will assist children to speak out confidently, to say their name with pride and ownership, and to always remember the value of friendship.This is her first foray into children's fiction. Jillian lives with her husband, Lester, in Warrawee, Sydney, and visits their grown-up children, Mark, Adrienne, Ainsley and Meredith and their families, in Sydney and Darwin.The illustrator, Olivia Anne Johnstone, is an Australian Year 8 student who uses water colour and black ink outline which is a component of her signature art style.