Audrey Skips

Bright and shiny Audrey loves to skip a jump rope rhyme, right off her rooftop and through the sleeping streets of a city. Skittering across the skyline and peering in windows, Audrey spies folks struggling with hard times as her own light dims. With a little help from city friends, Audrey’s light and her hopeful spirit shine again, brighter than ever.

Andrea Rowe and Lisa Coutts come together to create a story about community and kindness, legacy and conservation. Audrey Skips is a tribute to The Skipping Girl, Melbourne’s first neon sign and a timeless treasured landmark.

Age range 4+

About the Author

Andrea Rowe is a best-selling, award-winning picture book author. Her picture book, Jetty Jumping (illustrated by Hannah Sommerville), was awarded the 2022 CBCA Picture Book of the Year – Early Childhood and the 2023 Australian Speech Pathology Picture Book of the Year. In the Rockpool and Amid the Sand Dunes (Hardie Grant) were both awarded the 2024 and 2025 CBCA Notable Picture Books of the Year – Early Childhood. Andrea loves to write stories where characters explore the great outdoors, ponder big questions and move through tricky feelings, which inspire conversations amongst children, families and educators. Andrea is the 2025 inaugural Public Libraries ambassador for Victoria, and a May Gibbs Children’s Literature Trust Fellow.

Lisa Coutts is an illustrator based in Naarm, Melbourne, Australia. Her work has features in over 20 of varying genres, and her greatest love is picture books. Lisa loves creating charming characters and placing them in quirky and whimsical worlds. She is the illustrator of The Great Book Swapping Machine by Emma Allen and she designed the cover art on Tim Winton’s Blueback, with more books in production. Lisa’s art practice incorporates mixed media techniques including coloured pencil, dry pastel, acrylic and watercolour paints, and Procreate. Her work has been described as charming, delicious, quirky, whimsical and that it hurts people’s hearts in a GOOD way! When not in her studio, you’ll find Lisa riding her bike along river and creek trails for story inspiration, pausing to pat any cat she spies, or hunting for vintage Australian snow domes to add to her vast collection.