in 1999 with the highly acclaimed novel Blue, Spillman wrote three children's books with writer and comedian Jon Doust. One of these, Magpie Mischief was shortlisted for a Wilderness Society Environment Award. These collaborations were subsequently re-released as ebooks with new illustrations by James Foley. Spillman's 2007 novel for teenagers, Love is a UFO won the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards, but his international success can be traced to the launch of the "Jake" series of books for early readers, which began with Jake's Gigantic List in 2009. A celebration of books and reading, Jake's Gigantic List is dedicated to the Children's Book Council of Australia, to which Spillman has donated royalties. The Jake series has appeared in close to 20 nations and languages, and is especially popular in India. In 2011, Spillman launched another series for young readers titled The Absolutely True Fantasies of Daydreamer Dev. Four years later, his 12-book "Virtues" series was released in South East Asia. This drew its inspiration from the global, grass-roots Virtues Project, founded in Canada in 1991. Myra Garces-Bacsal, a professor at Singapore's National Institute of Education, wrote of this series: "This series by Ken Spillman demonstrates sensitivity towards children's emotions and profound respect for children's judgement, without being didactic." Spillman's picture books include The Strange Story of Felicity Frown, The Great Storyteller, Rahul and the Dream Bat, The Auto That Flew, The Magic Bird and Clumsy! He has also written a picture book for all ages titled The Circle. This deals with such issues as deforestation, human displacement, refugees and multiculturalism. Philanthropy Spillman is known to support many foundations working with disadvantaged children through the donation of books and money. He has also interacted with the children served by such foundations in a number of Indian cities and Malaysia. Works Non-fiction (1985) Identity Prized : a history of Subiaco Nedlands, W.A. : University of Western Australia Press for the City of Subiaco (1988) Custodians and Champions : the story of the City of Perth Surf Life Saving Club Perth, W.A : The Club. (1989) Horizons: A history of the R&I Bank of Western Australia / Nedlands, W.A. : University of Western Australia Press, (1993) A Rich Endowment : government and mining in Western Australia 1829–1994 Nedlands, W.A : University of Western Australia Press for the Dept. of Minerals and Energy in association with the Centre for Western Australian History, the University