SATA
ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: Scout and the Rescue Dogs
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://diannewolfer.com/
CITY: Albany
STATE:
COUNTRY: Australia
NATIONALITY: Australian
LAST VOLUME: SATA 295
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born October 28, 1961, in Melbourne, Western Australia, Australia; daughter of Donald (a manager) and Audrey (a teacher) Davidson; married Reinhard Wolfer (a systems manager), December 23, 1984 (died, 1995); married Peter Watson; children: (first marriage) Sophie.
EDUCATION:Melbourne State College, Diploma of Teaching; Western Australian Institute of Technology (now Curtin University), Certificate of Fluency in Japanese; University of Western Australia, M.A. (creative writing).
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and educator. Western Australian Education Department, teacher, 1984-87 and 1991-92; teacher at Japan International School and American School in Japan, Tokyo, 1987-90. Editor of Papermates magazine, Society of Women Writers (Western Australian Branch), beginning 1996; runs writing classes and workshops. Instructor of vocational English at Denmark Agricultural College, Denmark, Western Australia, Australia; teacher at missionary children in remote western Nepal and intensive Japanese classes for airline employees. Producer at ABC radio in Albany, Western Australia, Australia; Albany Sprung Writers Festival former committee member.
AVOCATIONS:Traveling, reading, swimming, bush-walking, photography, yoga, SCUBA diving.
MEMBER:Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (Australia West advisor, 2006-12), Society of Women Writers (Western Australia branch), Fellowship of Australian Writers, Children’s Book Council of Australia, Amnesty International, Australian Conservation Foundation.
AWARDS:Bronze Quill Award, Society of Women Writers, 1992; Furphy Award for best novel, Fellowship of Australian Writers (FAW), 1995, and Western Australian Young Readers’ Book Award (WAYRBA) third-place award, 1996, both for Dolphin Song; South-West Literary Award, 1995, for play Christmas Lunch; FAW Mary Grant Bruce Short-Story Award, 1997, for Donkey Ears; Wilderness Society Environmental Award shortlist and WAYRBA shortlist, both 1999, both for Border Line; Family Therapists’ Award for Children’s Literature shortlist, 2001, for Choices; WAYRBA shortlist, 2002, for Border Line, 2005, for Choices, 2006, for Horse Mad, and 2007; New South Wales Premier’s History Awards shortlist and Western Australian Premier’s Book Award shortlist, both 2009, and WAYBRA for Picture Books and Book of the Year Award shortlist, Notable Book for Older Readers designation, and Eve Pownall Notable Book designation, all Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA), all 2010, all for Lighthouse Girl; Louise Schofield Award, 2013, for services to Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Australia West; CBCA Book of the Year Award for Early Childhood shortlist, 2014, for Granny Grommet and Me; Western Australian Premier’s Book Award and CBCA Book of the Year Award for Younger Readers Honour Book selection, both 2014, both for Light Horse Boy.
WRITINGS
Author of readers for Thomson Learning, including Butterfly Notes, 2002, Ironkid, 2003, Being Billy, 2003, Scuba Kid, and Jungle Trek. Author of one-act play Christmas Lunch, 1995. Work represented in anthologies, including Going down South, 1992, and Going down South Two, 1993. Contributor of short stories, poems, and articles to magazines, including Infant Times, In Perspective, Let’s Travel, Lucky, Nature & Health, Western Review, and Western Word.
SIDELIGHTS
An award-winning novelist and picture-book author, Dianne Wolfer pens works for children and young adults that explore life in modern Australia. In addition to her contemporary tales, Wolfer has produced several historical novels, among them the World War I stories Lighthouse Girl and Light Horse Boy.
Geared for older readers, Wolfer’s novel Choices finds teenager Elisabeth coping with an unwanted pregnancy, while Dolphin Song focuses on the intersection between the human and natural world. In the latter novel, sixteen-year-old Melody forgets about her own problems when a dolphin shares the teen’s favorite swimming spot and becomes injured in a fisherman’s net. Noting that Wolfer has “done her dolphin research,” Sharon Rawlins added in School Library Journal that in Dolphin Song she “clearly sympathizes” with her finned protagonists. A more humorous tale, Horse-Mad presents younger readers with an interesting predicament as a sleek, swift, and graceful horse wakes up to find that she has been transformed into a gangly, hairless (and tail-less), human child.
Wolfer traveled to Papua New Guinea to research Photographs in the Mud, a picture book set during World War II. Told from the alternating perspectives of two soldiers fighting on opposite sides of the Kokoda Track campaign, the book explores the tragedy of warfare. Both seriously wounded in battle, Jack, an Australian soldier, and Hoshi, a Japanese infantryman, spend a torturous night together in the jungle, recalling memories of home as they share their treasured family photos. Featuring softly textured illustrations by Brian Harrison-Lever, Photographs in the Mud offers “a powerful reflection for older children on the true cost of war,” according to School Library Journal critic Marianne Saccardi.
In writing Lighthouse Girl Wolfer was inspired by a true event. Set in 1914, her story here centers on Fay Howe, the daughter of a lighthouse keeper stationed on remote Breaksea Island, off the coast of Western Australia. As troop ships pass the coast, carrying young men heading for the World War I battlefields of Europe and the Middle East, Fay notices a soldier using semaphore flags to signal her. She realizes that she is in a unique position to help the war effort and begins relaying messages via telegraph, connecting homesick soldiers to the Australian mainland. “Full of evocative illustrations, sepia photographs and news clippings, Wolfer’s book transports” readers, noted Frances Atkinson in a review of Lighthouse Girl for Melbourne’s Sunday Age.
In Light Horse Boy a companion volume, a young man from the Australian outback enlists in the Australian army and experiences the hardships of combat during World War I. A skilled horseman, Jim is thrilled to be assigned to the Australian Light Horse, the same mounted cavalry unit where his best friend Charlie is serving. Jim’s excitement is short lived, however, when he experiences battlefield horrors during the ill-fated Battle of Gallipoli and the military campaign in Egypt. “Wolfer relates the story of Jim with great sensitivity,” observed a contributor in reviewing Light Horse Boy for Perth’s West Australian.
“I feel very lucky to be able to live in a beautiful area on the southwest coast of Western Australia,” Wolfer once told SATA. “My home is surrounded by bushland, and it’s a short drive to the dramatic beaches of the Southern Ocean. Parrots, wrens, and lorikeets feed outside my window, and if I’m up early I see kangaroos nibbling on my neighbor’s lawn. In spring, the bush shows off its wild flowers and whales calve in the bays offshore.
“The environment and unique beauty of the corner of Australia in which I live play an important part in my writing. I am interested in the conflicts that occur when humans meet nature, so my books have environmental undercurrents and themes. Friendship and the bonds between characters are also of great importance to me as a writer.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Magpies, July, 2001, review of Choices, p. 42; May, 2005, review of Photographs in the Mud, p. 38; September, 2005, Russ Merrin, review of Horse-Mad, p. 39; November, 2006, Linda Dodds, review of The Kid Whose Mum Kept Possums in Her Bra, p. 32; March, 2009, Moira Robinson, review of The Lighthouse Girl, p. 37; March, 2013, Liz Derouet, review of Granny Grommet and Me, p. 29; March, 2014, Joanna Andrew, profile of Wolfer, pp. 16-18, and review of Annie’s Snails.
Sunday Age (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), February 22, 2009, Frances Atkinson, review of Lighthouse Girl, p. M25.
West Australian (Perth, West Australia, Australia), April 24, 2013, review of Light Horse Boy.
ONLINE
Dianne Wolfer website, http://diannewolfer.com (December 1, 2015).*
About
Mini bio
Dianne writes across genres and is the award-winning author of 27 books. She lives on the southwest coast with her husband, Pete, and dog, Harry.
Click here to download a one-page bio.
Short bio (248 words)
Dianne is a bookworm and author of 27 books, including the acclaimed ‘Light’ series, adapted for Cinestage, street theatre, and choirs. Her recent title, Scout and the Rescue Dogs won the WA Premier’s Award and was CBCA and WAYRBA shortlisted. The story celebrates kindness, set against a backdrop of the 2019/20 Black Summer bushfires.
In 2025 three new titles have been published: Soaring with the Sugarbird Lady the Robin Miller story, The Colt From Old Regret illustrated by Erica Wagner, and Cattle Muster with Frané Lessac.
Other books include CBCA Notable The Last Light Horse the final story in Dianne’s award-winning ‘Light series’. It joins fellow Notable In the Lamplight, multi-awarded Lighthouse Girl and Light Horse Boy, winner of WA Premier’s Award and CBCA Honour Book. This series inspired Black Swan Theatre’s, The Lighthouse Girl, Perth street theatre, The Giants and a stage adaption with Theatre 180.
Other recent titles include Mia: Through my Eyes – Australian Disaster Zones and The Dog with Seven Names, winner of the 2019 Speech Pathology Award, and published in Chinese.
Dianne writes across genres. Her fantasy quest novel, The Shark Caller was sparked by the ancient practice of calling sharks. Nanna’s Button Tin a gentle picture book is about searching for a special button. Photographs in the Mud, set along the Kokoda Track, has been used as an international peace reference.
Dianne completed PhD research into anthropomorphism at UWA and loves talking about Animal Characters in Children’s Literature. Her second website explores this interest www.animalswhotalk.com.
Photo courtesy Helen Clark. Click to download high resolution version.
Credit: Helen Burnett
Credit: Flossy Photos
More details …
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Sophie and Harry
Dianne lives on the south coast of Western Australia with her husband, Pete, and their dog, Harry. Dianne’s daughter, Sophie, and her partner Rob, work in Canberra. Dianne also has three grown-up stepkids; Kristy, Justin, Sarah, and three grandchildren: Amelie, Mason and Eden who live in Perth.
Dianne grew up in Melbourne, Bangkok, and Albury. Her extended family lives in ACT, NSW, QLD and Germany. Although she lives in the south-west corner of Australia, Dianne loves traveling to visit family and for work.
Dianne has always been a bookworm. In primary school she wanted to be Silky from The Magic Faraway Tree. Before that, she wanted to be the Muddle-headed Wombat. Sometimes it feels like this latter wish came true…
First day of school
Other favourite childhood books include The Sneetches, Bottersnikes and Gumbles, Anne of Green Gables, and any story with animals in it. That animal interest never faded. Dianne researched Anthropomorphism in Children’s Literature for her PhD at the University of Western Australia. This also involved writing two novels; one is fantasy (CBCA Notable The Shark Caller) the other, also CBCA Notable The Dog with Seven Names (shortlisted for the 2019 NSW Premier’s Awards and winner of the 2019 Speech Pathology Award) is historical fiction set in north-west Australia during WWII. Both books feature animal characters. Dianne’s Animals who Talk website explores her passion for anthropomorphism.
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Dianne writes across genres, from picture books for pre-schoolers to fantasy novels for young adults, and historical fiction for all ages. She was invited to write a novel for the award-winning Through My Eyes series, and the resulting Mia: Through My Eyes – Australian Disaster Zone, follows the story of a girl showing courage and resilience to protect animals during Cyclone Veronica (which pummeled the Pilbara coast in 2019). Another recent title, Skye Blackburn-Lang: eating bugs for the planet, is her second title in the popular Aussie STEM Stars series. Her picture book Nanna’s Button Tin is published in the US by Candlewick. YA novel, The Shark Caller is a cross-cultural quest novel. Historical fiction title, Light Horse Boy was a CBCA Honour Book and a joint winner of the Western Australian Premier’s Award 2014. Partner novel Lighthouse Girl won the 2010 West Australian Young Readers’ Book Awards, was shortlisted for two Premiers’ Awards, the Crichton Award, was a CBCA Notable Book, and part inspiration for the Royal de Luxe performance of The Giants in February 2015. ‘The Lighthouse Girl’ by playwright Hellie Turner and Black Swan Theatre premiered in Albany/Perth in April 2017 before touring Western Australia. In the Lamplight, the final title in Dianne’s ‘Light’ series was published in April and was listed as a 2019 CBCA Notable Book.
Granny Grommet and Me inspired by surfing grandmas was shortlisted for the 2014 CBCA Early Childhood Book of the Year and was re-released with Fremantle Press. Dianne’s previous historical picture book Photographs in the Mud is set on the Kokoda Track in 1942. It’s used as an international peace reference and has been published in Japanese. Photographs in the Mud and Lighthouse Girl are recommended texts for the National History Curriculum. Choices, one of three titles for YA readers, was commended for the Family Therapists Children’s Literature Award and is also published in Polish. Annie’s Snails is a chapter book for early readers.
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Dianne is a passionate advocate for children’s literature in Australia. She served six years as WA Advisor for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (2006-2012) and was a member of the Albany Sprung Writers Festival committee for 10 years. In 2013 she won the Louise Schofield Award for services to SCBWI WA. Dianne is a proud ambassador for Room to Read and Books in Homes.
In addition to book writing, Dianne was invited to compose an ode to the Albany Entertainment Centre. With fellow writers Kim Scott and Maree Dawes, she read at the building’s Opening Ceremony in 2011. Other regional projects include creating and recording a collection of linked children’s audio stories for the Northcliffe Understory Sculpture Walk and in 2012 Dianne was commissioned to condense the history of Albany into information chunks for presentation on ‘information poles’ along the Princess Royal waterfront.
Dianne’s love of books is one reason she became a writer. Her stories are about many things; different cultures, the environment, friendship, being brave, turns in the road and taking chances. She also likes exploring things from different perspectives.
Dianne presents author talks and workshops at schools and festivals across Australia and Asia. She sponsors a Story Dog and is an ambassador for Room to Read, a proactive organisation that helps disadvantaged children change their worlds through the power of books and reading.
Dianne is a bookworm who reads and writes every day. She can’t imagine a world without books.
Dianne Wolfer
Series
Light
1. Lighthouse Girl (2010)
2. Light Horse Boy (2014)
3. In the Lamplight (2018)
4. The Last Light Horse (2022)
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Novels
Dolphin Song (1995)
Border Line (1998)
Choices (2001)
The Shark Caller (2016)
The Dog with Seven Names (2018)
Mia (2022)
Scout and the Rescue Dogs (2023)
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Picture Books hide
Granny Grommet and Me (2024)
The Colt from Old Regret (2025) (with Erica Wagner)
Cattle Muster (2025)
Dianne Wolfer
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dianne Wolfer
Born 1961 (age 63–64)
Occupation Writer for children
Language English
Nationality Australian
Years active 1991-
Dianne Wolfer (born 1961) is an Australian children's author who lives on the south coast of Western Australia.[1]
Writing career
In 2009 Wolfer published Lighthouse Girl[2] which won the 2010 West Australian Young Readers' Book Award for Picture Books,[3] and was shortlisted for the 2009 New South Wales Premier's History Awards. It is based on the true story of Fay Howe, daughter of the Breaksea Island lighthouse keeper, who relayed messages for the departing ANZAC troops in 1914. Lighthouse Girl was part inspiration for the Royal de Luxe The Giants story at the 2015 Perth International Arts Festival and has been adapted for stage by Black Swan Theatre.[4] In 2018 Black Swan Theatre's production toured regional Western Australia.
Partner title Light Horse Boy[5] won the Children's Book Category of the 2014 Western Australian Premier's Book Awards, was shortlisted and awarded Honour Book for the 2014 Children's Book Council of Australia Awards.
A third title, In the Lamplight[6] was published in 2018 and launched in Western Australia and Harefield, UK. This title completes Wolfer's Light series.
Wolfer's first picture book Photographs in the Mud[7] was inspired by a research trip along the Kokoda Track and is used as a reference for international workshops promoting peaceful "Discourse Analysis". It has been published in Japanese.
Her second picture book Granny Grommet and Me was shortlisted for the 2014 Children's Book Council of Australia Awards. Nanna's Button Tin was published by Walker Books Australia in 2017 and republished by Candlewick Press in 2018.
Wolfer completed PhD research at the University of Western Australia in 2017, with a focus on anthropomorphism and Crafting Animal Characters in Australian Children's Literature. Two novels for young adult (YA) readers were created as part of this study; The Shark Caller[8] and The Dog with Seven Names,[9] both published by Penguin Random House. "The Shark Caller" was shortlisted for the 2016 West Australian Young Readers' Book Awards and was a 2017 Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Notable book. 'The Dog with Seven Names' was shortlisted for the 2019 NSW Premier's Literary Awards.
An earlier YA title, Choices was commended for the Family Therapists Children's Literature Award and is also published in Polish.
From 2006 to 2012 Wolfer was the Western Australian Advisor for the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).[10]
In 2024 Scout and the Rescue Dogs won the Premier's Prize for Children's Book of the Year at the WA Premier's Book Awards.[11]
Books
Scout and the Rescue Dogs (2023) Walker Books Australia ISBN 9781760655860
Mia (2022) Allen & Unwin ISBN 9781760877026
Aussie STEM Stars : Skye Blackburn-Lang (2022) Wild Dingo Press ISBN 9781925893694
Aussie STEM Stars : Munjed Al Muderis (2020) Wild Dingo Press ISBN 9781925893373
Nanna's Button Tin (2018) Candlewick Press ISBN 9780763680961
The Dog with Seven Names (2018) Penguin Random House ISBN 9780143787457
In the Lamplight (2018) Fremantle Press ISBN 9781925591224
Nanna's Button Tin (2017) Walker Books Australia
The Shark Caller (2016) Penguin Random House, ISBN 978-0-14-378055-7
Annie's Snails (2014)[12]
Granny Grommet and Me (2013)
Light Horse Boy (2013)[13]
Lighthouse Girl (2009)
The Kid Whose Mum Kept Possums in Her Bra (2006)
Photographs in the Mud (2005)
Horse Mad (2005)
Scuba Kid (2004)
Iron Kid (2003)
Being Billy (2003)
Jungle Trek (2003)
Butterfly Notes (2002)
Choices (2001)
Border Line (1998)[14]
Dolphin Song (1995)[15]
Dianne Wolfer on Soaring with the Sugarbird Lady
Posted on April 9, 2025
Dianne Wolfer, author
The cover of a children's biography: Soaring with the Sugarbird Lady by Dianne Wolfer.
Dianne Wolfer is the award-winning author of 26 books, including the acclaimed ‘Light’ series, adapted for stage, street theatre, and choirs! She lives on the southwest coast with her husband, Pete, and dog, Harry. Today we’re thrilled to be talking to Dianne about her latest book, a biography of Robin Miller, Soaring with the Sugarbird Lady.
The publisher provided Alphabet Soup with a reading copy of Soaring with the Sugarbird Lady.
From the publisher:
Imagine flying solo, crisscrossing the north-west of Australia in your own plane, and single-handedly delivering life-saving vaccines to remote communities. Robin Miller did this, and at a time when most people didn’t think women should be pilots at all. Her arrival seemed like magic to the outback children who received her polio vaccine on sugar cubes. Before long, she became known as the Sugarbird Lady. And this was just the start of Robin’s extraordinary real-life adventures!
You’ve included quotes from Robin’s own diary at the start of each chapter. When you need to conduct research about someone from history like Robin Miller, how difficult/easy is it to find the information you need?
Researching someone as respected and loved as Robin Miller was challenging and an honour. To begin with I reread Flying Nurse, written by Robin and published in 1971, as well as The Sugarbird Lady, published after Robin’s death, and based on her diaries. I watched online presentations, including talks by Patsy Millett, Robin’s sister, and read books written by family members (Patsy, her father Horrie Miller, and mother Mary Durack). Both the State Library of Western Australia and the National Library in Canberra hold boxes of Robin’s papers and memorabilia. Sifting through items that Robin treasured helped give me a stronger sense of who Robin was, and how best I could write her story. I loved holding things like the brooch from her air race across the United States! After researching widely, I came back to Robin’s books. That’s where I heard her voice. Quotes from Robin’s books and diaries became the bedrock of my early drafts. Over many story drafts and edits, the quotes were pared back until just a few remain.
Other than diaries, how do you know when the information you find in your research is reliable?
It’s important to cross-reference and check all information. History is recorded by humans who can easily make mistakes and who write from their own perspective. I often asked myself, is this a trustworthy source?
Robin Miller packed in so much during her life and a book is a certain length – how do you decide what to leave out of the book?
Deciding what to leave out was the hardest part! My process is to overwrite then try to edit bravely, cutting out words and unnecessary scenes. So many amazing flights and adventures were left out while shaping the book, to keep the pace moving along. I hope readers will be inspired by Robin’s courage and determination, and that Soaring with the Sugarbird Lady will provide a taster to find out more about this amazing aviator.
When she was a young woman, society (and even family members) tried to put limits on what Robin could do in life and she persisted anyway. In your own life, have you ever faced limitations on what you wanted to do?
Readers might find it hard to believe that until the late 1960s, women who worked in the Australian public service had to give up their job when they married. My mother was one of them. Once the law changed, when I was seven, Mum returned to work. When I finished high school, four years after Robin’s death, it was still unusual for women to venture beyond teaching, nursing or office work. I was lucky that Mum encouraged my sister and I to embrace our adventurous spirits. She hid her worries when I travelled across south-east Asia alone and worked in a remote village in the Himalayas for a year. Over the years there have been improvements, but many industries are still challenging workplaces for women …
What’s next for you?
The start of 2025 has been busy, and wonderful. Three books are coming out with three different publishers: Soaring with the Sugarbird Lady (Fremantle Press), The Colt from Old Regret, illustrated by Erica Wagner (NLA Publishing), and Cattle Muster, illustrated by Frané Lessac (Walker Books). I’ve been working on each book for years and suddenly they’re all here!
I’m also excited to have just launched a newsletter. There’s a link to subscribe on my website. Two other exciting things that are happening: the regional tour of Theatre 180’s The Lighthouse Girl Saga, as well as the Chauvel Light Horse ride, where riders travel 750 km across regional Victoria/NSW to honour Sir Harry Chauvel. They’re presenting schools along the way with copies of The Last Light Horse, my book about the only horse to return from WWI.
Soaring with the Sugarbird Lady is out now! Look for it at your favourite bookshop or local library.
Wolfer, Dianne SCOUT AND THE RESCUE DOGS Walker Books Australia (Children's None) $18.99 6, 3 ISBN: 9781761600494
In this Australian import, 11-year-old Scout, rock-tumbling enthusiast and dog lover, is facing her first Christmas season without her mother and struggling with loneliness at her boarding school, where she's cruelly teased.
Over their school break, Scout's class receives a challenging online assignment (her teacher is concerned about bullying and trying to forge positive bonds among students), but her true adventure begins when she and her dad set out to deliver dog food to rural animal rescues. Wolfer skillfully blends serious themes--grief, climate change, life-threatening wildfires, and animal welfare--with lighthearted moments, terrible dad jokes, Australian slang, and the joys of summer road trips. Scout is both relatable and inspiring, and her journey is one of growth, fortitude, and self-discovery. She's portrayed as human and fallible--and as someone who approaches challenges with intelligence, compassion, and determination. Her growing friendships and interactions, including a sweet and honest depiction of a first crush, add further depth to the story. The novel also highlights important real-world issues, from the impact of Australia's devastating bushfires to the challenges faced by truck drivers like her dad and the ethics of puppy mills. The engaging storytelling and emotional depth are complemented by details about Australian animals and Flowers' charming illustrations. Scout is cued white, and contextual clues point to some ethnic diversity in the supporting cast.
Offers powerful life lessons about empathy, resilience, community, and helping others with humor and compassion. (geographical notes)(Fiction. 8-12)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2025 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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"Wolfer, Dianne: SCOUT AND THE RESCUE DOGS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Apr. 2025. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A835106372/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=5e91dc94. Accessed 3 Nov. 2025.