Jillian S BurgessJillian Burgess is an Australian speech communication specialist with a love of teaching. Her career spans 50 years.She is vice-president of the Australian Speech Communication Association (ASCA) and has examined and adjudicated since 1984. She is a ounding member of the Australian Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships (AIDPSC) and the Australasian Debating and Public Speaking Championships (ADPSC).Her love of storytelling and language acquisition led to her writing The Mumbling Gum Blossom, a play written in 1995 which was produced with a Year 2 speech class at a school in Sydney, Australia. This fictional story evolved from the play in the hope it will assist children to speak out confidently, to say their name with pride and ownership, and to always remember the value of friendship.This is her first foray into children's fiction. Jillian lives with her husband, Lester, in Warrawee, Sydney, and visits their grown-up children, Mark, Adrienne, Ainsley and Meredith and their families, in Sydney and Darwin.The illustrator, Olivia Anne Johnstone, is an Australian Year 8 student who uses water colour and black ink outline which is a component of her signature art style. Read More Read Less