Throughout our lives, we get to have many first moments like our first kiss, our first paycheck and our first heartbreak. Young children across the country are approaching a big one, the first day of school. Canberra author Rhiân Williams captures the milestone in the picture book Surprise at the End of Onkaparinga Lane.

“Lots of kids have been to childcare and kinder and lots of things but looking to that first day of school is still a big, important ritual and milestone for children. How we set up really makes a difference, it’s this thing of embarking on this lifelong journey of learning,” says Ms Williams.

The story follows Joe as he walks to his first day of school down Onkaparinga Lane. Along the way, the reader encounters a celebration of neighbours and friendships.

“He has this really important news he wants to share with everybody but unfortunately none of his neighbours are home anywhere along Onkaparinga Lane and he is very sad. Then he gets to the end of Onkaparinga Lane and there are all his friends from the lane waiting to welcome him to his first day of school.”

Ms Williams’s third children’s book originally started as a counting book, until author Sue Whiting, who was mentoring Ms Williams at the time, suggested including a narrative arc. Thinking of what could happen in her lovely counting story, she was inspired by the first day of school.

“I have a friend called Joe, I think he didn’t have the happiest childhood and so it was kind of this imaging of what a happy childhood would look like, that was part of the inspiration,” she smiles.

Beautifully illustrated by Martina Heiduczek, the imagery and story highlight the author’s other inspiration- the diversity in a typical Australian neighbourhood.

A volunteer firefighter, Ms Williams says one of the sentiments they often hear is the importance of knowing your neighbours as they will be the ones closest in an emergency.

“There’s a whole lot of lovely research that shows people feel safer in their neighbourhoods if they know their neighbours, even just a wave and say hello to,” she says. “We might not have a deep connection to people, but just knowing them to say hello to provides what is called a weak social tie and the more weak social ties we have, the stronger we feel connected to our community and our neighbourhood.”

The heartwarming picture book is also Ms Williams’s love letter to grandmothers everywhere. It was after writing the book she came to the realisation that it must have been Joe’s grandmother who organised the neighbours.

Launching the book late last year at Parliament House, Dr Anne Aly, Minister for Early Education, enjoyed the fact that it was the grandmother who was with Joe during this special time. She told Ms Williams the role of a grandparent, particularly a grandmother, is incredibly important in a lot of our culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

“What she was taken by is just how representative that [the grandmother’s role] would be to the diversity of our community. I was reflecting on the saying ‘What you can’t see, you can’t be’ and the idea that lots of children’s picture books don’t necessarily have a lot of diversity represented in them. Although I think that is really improving.”

Along with the appreciation for those who are important to us, Ms Williams hopes the book will help readers treasure ‘those moments’.

“Those moments don’t have to be the big moments like the first day of school, those moments might be the first time you walk along a particular street, the first time you spot a Christmas beetle, or the time of the year when the Eastern longneck turtles come out. There is surprise and delight in so many ordinary everyday things,” she smiles.

Not being able to launch her first book due to pandemic restrictions, Ms Williams offered to write a letter to any child who bought the book.

“People could just email me via my website and I would then write a letter to the little person that they were gifting the book to.”

Enjoying the letter-writing experience, she is happy to write a letter to any child starting school who has a copy of Surprise at the End of Onkapringa Lane.

Surprise at the End of Onkaparinga Lane by Rhiân Williams is available in all good bookstores, learn more the author; Rhiânwilliamsauthor.com.au

Canberra Daily is keen to hear from you about a story idea in the Canberra and surrounding region. Click here to submit a news tip.