Inside the World of Tom Roberts

The paintings of iconic Australian artists are brought to life in this exciting picture book series of adventures about a young boy and girl. In this second book, Ben and Gracie Green lose themselves in the paintings of Tom Roberts and experience early settlement life in Australia.

When Ben and Gracie go to meet their mum after work at the art gallery, they're hoping the golden ticket they still have from their previous visit will again transport them into a painting. This time, they find themselves whisked back in time to the world of another colonial artist, Tom Roberts.

When the young daughter of a settler family invites the pair back to her parents' farm, not only do they meet Tom Roberts himself and see him at work, but they also witness a robbery when bushrangers ambush a stagecoach. Will Ben and Gracie and their new friend be able to escape the cross-fire when troopers start shooting?

About the Author

Highly acclaimed author/illustrator Mark Wilson's many picture books include The Penguin Shore (a CBCA Notable Book in 1996), The Castaways of the Charles Eaton, Yellow-eye (winner of the Wilderness Society Award in 2002), the Extinction Series: I Saw Nothing: the Extinction of the Thylacine (a CBCA Notable Book in 2004); I Said Nothing: the Extinction of the Paradise Parrot; and I Did Nothing: the Extinction of the Gastric Brooding Frog. His most recent picture books are The Last Tree (2006), My Mother's Eyes: The Story of a Boy Soldier (2009) and Angel of Kokoda (2010). The Extinction Series also won a Wilderness Society Award and a Whitley Award in 2004, and The Last Tree won a Whitley Award in 2007. Mark lives in Frankston, Victoria.