Australia's new children's laureate rippin' up playbook

Australia's highest-selling female author of the Billie B Brown series, Sally Rippin, has been named the eighth Australian Children's Laureate.

The laureate, appointed every two years, acts as the ambassador for Australian kids' literature and promotes the power of reading, imagination and stories in schools and with policy-makers around the country.

"There's a lot of room to bring your own mission," Ms Rippin said.

"For me, it's very much based around the idea of inclusivity in the classroom," she said.

Like Morris Gleitzman, Jackie French and other laureates before, Ms Rippin said she'll use storytelling to promote the joy of reading with young Australians.

Her Children's Laureate mission statement, "all kids can be readers", aims to create greater awareness of the reading challenges associated with learning difficulties and disabilities.

"There's plenty of people who access stories in different ways," she said.

"That might be through audio books, It might be through braille, through oral storytelling. Some kids might really get into quite lengthy complex novels but others will much prefer comic books.

"I really want to broaden the idea of what it is to read and how we can ensure that all kids can access great stories no matter what form that might take," she said.

Ms Rippin published more than 100 books in a writing career spanning 25 years including Billie B Brown, Wild Things, Hey Jack!, School of Monsters and The Wayward Witch and the Feelings Monster.

An event to celebrate Ms Rippin's appointment will be held at The Wheeler Centre in Melbourne on February 20 at 11.00am.