Introducing Charlie's Birthday Adventure
A children's book born from community, research and real stories
Charlie's Birthday Adventure is a children's book written by Dr Michelle Hamrosi to help young children understand bushfire emergencies in a gentle, age-appropriate way. Inspired by real stories from the 2019–20 Black Summer bushfires, it was created to support the calm, honest conversations families often need, but don't always know how to start.
We're delighted to be making this book available to our national community as part of our Parents Prepare Project.
Webinar times around the continent: Friday 11th September @ 11:30am AEST | 11am ACST | 9:30am AWST
Join us online to meet with author, researcher and doctor Michelle Hamrosi.
In our one hour session you'll:
- experience a reading of Charlie's Birthday Adventure;
- find out how this story came to life;
- gain access to empowering digital resources, and
- discover ways to bring this book to your community and support greater family and community resilience.
About the creators
Dr Michelle Hamrosi — Author
Michelle is a GP and lactation consultant based in the Eurobodalla, and the Group Leader of the ABA Eurobodalla Group. She served as ABA Community Engagement Officer from 2022–2025, working on community protection for infants and young children in bushfire emergencies, which directly informed the creation of this book. Michelle is also a clinical lecturer with the ANU Rural Clinical School and is an advocate with Doctors for the Environment Australia. She is a mother of three fast growing up children and a passionate voice for community health, preparedness and the wellbeing of young families. When enjoying a day off she loves pottering in her garden with her chickens, growing shiitake mushrooms and playing piano.
Courtney Tooth — Illustrator
Courtenay is a visual artist from Melbourne, who has called Moruya home for the last decade. Primarily a painter, also an illustrator and graphic design artist. As a mother of two, who experienced the 2019-20 bushfires first hand, Courtenay pulled her experience into the illustrations with heart. 