Wanting to show how nature and bush creatures deal with bushfire, author Ted Prior turned to Grug again, creating Grug and the bushfire, the 35th picture book about the ever-curious, unflappable bush character childrensbook
When author Ted Prior evacuated his home in northern NSW to escape the 2019 bushfires the only thing he took was the original artwork from his picture book character, Grug.
His GP told him it was post-traumatic stress disorder, from which he has now recovered. But, although the house and studio Prior has lived and worked in for 18 years escaped the fires, the survival of native wildlife got him thinking.Grug and the bushfire, “But there’s also his close connection with the Australian bush. I think that’s very, very important. If one of the side effects of growing up as a young child with abook is that it encourages you to remain interested and close to nature through your life then that’s the best thing that could happen.”, a stage adaptation of Prior’s picture books, now showing at the Opera House.