We were thrilled to sit down with Danielle Binks to talk all about her latest novel, Six Summers of Tash and Leopold: a big, hopeful, coming-of-age middle-grade book that features complicated families and life-changing summers. The novel follows the titular characters as they deal with difficult life transitions and school can’t (a.k.a. school refusal). Danielle chats about the therapeutic nature of writing, and reflects on the different expectations we place on children and adults when it comes to facing anxieties.
Listen now below, on your favourite pod player, or at this link.
Content notes for this episode: anxiety, depression, gambling addiction, agoraphobia, pet loss.
Show Notes
About the book
Alytash and Leopold – Tash and Leo – are neighbours who used to be best friends, but aren’t anymore, for reasons that Leo doesn’t entirely understand. But now it’s the last week of Year Six and Tash is standing in Leo’s front yard with a misdelivered letter – and a favour to ask.
It’s a request that will set off a chain of events in their little crescent in Noble Park, a suburb that is changing, and fast.
As they solve an unfolding neighbourhood mystery and help Ms Shepparson, a reclusive neighbour with a tragic past, Tash and Leo each has to confront fault lines in their own recent histories and families.
Thank you to Hachette Australia for linking us together.
About the Author
Danielle Binks is a Melbourne-based writer and literary agent . She is the author of bestselling middle-grade book The Year the Maps Changed, and the award-winning young adult books; Begin, End, Begin: A #LoveOzYA Anthology as well as The Monster of Her Age.
You can find Danielle on Instagram on on her website.
Her recommendations include:
- Summer of Shipwrecks by Shivaun Plozza
- The Belburd by Nardi Simpson
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We record our podcast on Wurundjeri Land, which is home to both of us in Naarm/Melbourne. We also acknowledge the role of storytelling in First Nations communities. Always was, always will be Aboriginal Land.
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