Racing Puffing Billy

Racing Puffing Billy by Corinne Fenton & Mark Wilson (Windy Hollow Books) PB RRP $27.99 ISBN 9781922998279

Reviewed by Karen Hendriks

Racing Puffing Billy is based upon the true story of a faithful dog named Jerry and his best friend Lionel, a driver on the famous Puffing Billy steam train. Jerry was rescued as a cold and hungry pup by Lionel and his wife Bea. He became famous on Puffing Billy for racing the train back to the station. The moment he heard the blast from Puffing Billy’s whistle, Jerry came running.

Corrine Fenton is an award-winning author known for writing beautiful picture-book histories of animals whose lives have become legendary. Her award-winning books include Lionel and Me, My Friend Tertius, Bob the Railway Dog, The Dog on the Tuckerbox and Queenie: One Elephant’s Story.

Mark Wilson is a multiple award-winning author/illustrator with 39 books in print worldwide in nine languages. Mark has a passion for Australian history and the environment. In 2011 he received the Dromkeen Medal for Services to Children’s Literature.

Corrine Fenton has written a story with heart and much love for Jerry. Her heartwarming style pairs facts with word choices and sentence construction that deeply connect the reader to Jerry, the train and the setting. She characterises animal friendship and showcases Jerry’s dog personality and his impact on those around him to great effect. The flawless opening sentence captures the reader's attention. One windswept night, a sick and scruffy pup, owned by no one, limped up the path of a house in Upper Ferntree Gully in the Dandenong Ranges. The text is timeless; it captures Australian history and spirit beautifully, letting the reader time-travel and marvel. After his run, Jerry often clambered into a fire bucket to cool off.  The reader experiences the Puffing Billy through Jerry's eyes. Fenton shows emotion, history and setting rather than telling. Passengers leaned from the train windows or sat on the carriage sills, legs dangling, watching him race, and children would yell, ‘Go Jerry,’ which always encouraged him to run faster. This playful, rhythmic read tugs at the heartstrings.

Mark Wilson’s signature illustration style shines as he beautifully captures the historical vintage Puffing Billy steam train and the old stations. He is the perfect illustrator choice for this text. His attention to detail captures not only the engineering of the Puffing Billy steam train but also human and dog emotions and the beauty of the Dandenong Ranges. He emphasises the deep emotional bond between the driver, Lionel, and Jerry, and, through detailed facial expressions, pulls readers into their friendship and shared love of the Puffing Billy steam train. The colour palette is realistic and perfectly suited to the era. The endpapers feature the Puffing Billy steam train sweeping around a bend, with passengers sitting on windowsills or waving, showing the magic of the ride as the train steams through the lush green ranges. I think what I like best is how beautifully it captures the absolute joy of Jerry racing the train.

Racing Puffing Billy is written for children 3 years and older. With its nostalgic theme and its focus on a unique friendship, it’s sure to be loved by parents, teachers and librarians. It’s also a wonderful book for train enthusiasts. This book brilliantly shares the themes of friendship, loyalty and history.

Subbie and His Mate

Subbie and His Mate by Corinne Fenton, illustrated by Mark Wilson (Ford Street Publishing) PB RRP $16.95 ISBN: 9781925804980

Reviewed by Dannielle Viera 

Subzero was a famous Australian racehorse – but few people know the joy he brought folks after his retirement. A man named Graham Salisbury purchased Subzero, and the affable horse became a favourite among the students at the Apprentice Jockey Program. Children were drawn to Subzero’s gentleness, so Graham took him to visit schools; later, the duo cheered up sick and lonely people in hospitals and aged-care homes. Graham and Subzero were best mates for twenty-six years.

Corinne Fenton’s narrative non-fiction picture book gallops through Subzero’s remarkable life, focusing not on the horse’s fame and fortune but on his ability to connect with and comfort the humans around him. Kids aged seven and older will adore Subzero’s cheeky side and discover the uplifting nature of unadulterated kindness.

Mark Wilson has illustrated Subzero’s story using a wide variety of media, from coloured pencils and watercolours to oil pastels and acrylic paints. This ensures that each spread explodes with visual excitement and energy, as well as a unique dynamism that reflects the racing gait of the thoroughbred.

 

Subbie and His Mate celebrates the bond that can form between humans and animals when love and trust lead the way. Children will cherish the friendship between Subzero and Graham, and no doubt wish they had a neighing mate of their own.

Votes for Women: The Story of Nellie, Rose and Mary

Votes for Women: The Story of Nellie, Rose and Mary written and illustrated by Mark Wilson (Hachette Australia) HB RRP $26.99 ISBN 9780734420138

Reviewed by Kathleen Grace

From award-winning author and illustrator Mark Wilson, here is a stirring story told in picture book style of the women who first won the right to vote in Australia, inspired by real people and historical events.

In 1890, Rose Birks and her stepdaughter, Nellie, two strong-willed and determined women, began writing letters and attending meetings to help improve the lives of women and children in their home city of Adelaide. They soon found themselves part of a movement that would change the lives of all Australian women. Through their friendship with the famous suffragist Mary Lee, they petitioned politicians and lawmakers – and in 1896 they became the first women in the country to vote in an election. Votes for Women! Tell t heir story.

Told in the third person voice of Nellie Birks, the story shows her relationship with her stepmother, and how she becomes aware of the issues that women faced. ‘She gladly went with Rose to meetings and helped compose letters to the newspapers about these issues.’

This is a visually captivating book with many illustrations coloured in pastels, some full-page and others in boxes with extracts from newspapers, petitions, and documents. Some of the illustrations – such as the opening fly pages – are sketched in dark and eye-catching sepia, such as pictures of women in factories working machines, and a woman addressing a crowd. Interior illustrations are in subdued colours. The artwork is realistic and worth pouring over as there are so many interesting details.

This is a fine book for showing young readers – from 9+ years – about an important part of their country’s history.

All of Us, A History of Southeast Asia

All of Us, A History of Southeast Asia by Jackie French and Virginia Hooker, illustrated by Mark Wilson (Angus & Robertson, an imprint of Harper Collins Children’s Books) HB RRP $29.99 ISBN 9781460750025 October, 2019

Reviewed by Karen Hendriks

All of Us, A History of Southeast Asia is a non-fiction picture book that covers the history of the land masses of Southeast Asia. It is a very detailed and informative picture book that has been carefully and meticulously compiled about our mysterious Asian lands. I particularly like the fact that the book covers our part of the world from an Australian perspective, not a European one and that it celebrates the diversity of the different lands in Southeast Asia and their cultures and history. Australia is an interwoven part of southeast Asia and we are all connected.

The text is easy to follow, and the illustrations are simply stunning with the use of lots of lush greens and blues and browns of the lands. Each spread incorporates a striking illustration with a timeline and poetry that sings. Mark Wilson’s illustrations showcase and capture each land by bringing to life the lands, people, customs and the weather. They encourage the reader to explore the history and interconnection of us all. Wilson also brings in a geographical aspect to each land and its people. This picture book could easily be a coffee table book with its stunning illustrations by an award-winning illustrator. The paintwork and detail are second to none and the human face is captured so well.

The book’s 48 pages are appealing to both adults and children alike and will be a valuable resource for teachers as it can be used in a classroom to great effect. The book starts at 200,000,000 BC when Gondwanaland is one huge landmass in the southern hemisphere and then in sections it goes through one land at a time, with an era of its history and how it’s linked to all of us in Southeast Asia. We are all connected by the winds and tides that create our weather.

This picture book has much to offer any reader aged 8 years and over.

The Afghanistan Pup

The Afghanistan Pup by Mark Wilson (Lothian/Hachette)
HB RRP $24.99
ISBN: 97807344153525
Reviewed by Hilary Smillie

Part of Wilson's war-themed series of stunning picture books, this latest story is set in Afghanistan and features Kinah, an Afghani schoolgirl who finds an abandoned, starving puppy in her village of Hafir, and an Australian soldier fighting in the Afghanistan war. The puppy is destined to be loved by both.

Kinah takes the puppy to school which she is thankful to attend as some adults do not believe girls should be educated. It is a dangerous time as Spring has arrived and fighting will begin again. When the school is bombed, the injured puppy survives and goes looking for his mistress but she is not there.

Australian soldiers arrive to assess the extent of the damage and one of the engineers finds the weak puppy who has returned to the school. He takes it back to camp to clean its wounds and give it food and water. When the pup is well enough, it accompanies the soldier on patrol until the situations become too dangerous. One day the soldier does not return and the pup waits in vain.

Mark Wilson has portrayed in word and wonderful, atmospheric illustrations his moving story of a soldier's life in Afghanistan and the cruel impact of war. That a pup could survive the insecurity of life in a war-torn country is remarkable and it is due to the pup's own instincts that he has a happy ending.

Young readers will find the action pictures and newspaper clipping-style inserts most evocative and informative. A special inclusion is an illustration of a soldier with the Australian flag created by James Farquarson who served in Alpha Company 5/7th Battalion, RAR. It is located almost at the end of the book.

Mark Wilson is an award-winning author/illustrator whose picture books are instantly recognisable by the consistency and quality of his work.

Vietnam Diary

Vietnam Diary by Mark Wilson (Lothian/Hachette)
HB RRP $24.99
ISBN 9780734412744
Reviewed by Hilary Smillie

Mark Wilson is a noted Victorian author/illustrator of picture books for older children. I have also reviewed Wilson's My Mother's Eyes: The Story of a Boy Soldier (2009) and Angel of Kokoda (2010). The Last Tree (2006) won a Whitley Award in 2007.

Vietnam Diary poses the question many ask when Australian soldiers are sent to fight a war in a foreign country: Why should they go? The answer lies in individual beliefs, such as in the case of the story's two brothers, Leigh and Jason.

Both the boys' grandfather and father fought overseas, the former in the First World War, and the latter in Kokoda, PNG. When the Vietnam war came about, Leigh is dead certain he and his mates should not go, because it is not "our war". Jason, on the other hand, isn't so sure. What if everyone ran away from fighting overseas in the common cause for freedom? Would Australia be a different place if we hadn't fought at Gallipoli or Kokoda or Tobruk?

Many of Wilson's illustrations are nostalgic, depicting a boyhood of shared cricketing dreams. There is high excitement when Leigh and Jason attend their first MCG test match. Jason regards his match ticket as lucky and when he is conscripted, makes sure he tucks it into his wallet before he leaves for the Puckapunyal training camp.

Jason decides, after his training period is over, to join his mates and go to Vietnam even though, as a conscript, he could have refused. Leigh who had hoped to dissuade him from the start, has to accept that their opinions on war will remain divided.

Through Jason's diary, the reader learns that Jason does not hold anything against Leigh for his pacifist stance even though he has yet to receive a letter from him. When a letter finally arrives he keeps it aside until after his patrol duty that night, trying to overcome the Vietcong.

The battle of Long Tan in August 1966 is now a part of history. Jason never got to read his brother's letter, but if Leigh read his younger brother's diary, he might have also been surprised. The Afterword is heartwarming, if sad.

Vietnam Diary is a sensitive picture book whose words and images give moving insights into the conflicting emotions and challenges faced by young soldiers at war.

Stranded

Stranded by Jan Ramage, illustrated by Mark Wilson (black dog books)
HB RRP $24.99
ISBN 978-1-74203-097-5
Reviewed by Vicki Stanton
http://www.buzzwordsmagazine.com/

Stranded is a beautifully presented picture book based on actual events, the succesful rescue of over 100 whales beached at Busselton, Western Australia.

While beach fishing Ben sees 'a swell of black shapes, all heading for shore'. He alerts his father and soon the wildlife officer and over a thousand people are on the beach attempting to keep the whales alive and to herd them out to sea.

Stranded has more text than most picture books but never seems text-heavy. It is written simply and evocatively, drawing the reader in to the emotion and seriousness of the situation. Concepts of environmental protection and community involvement have been explored without didactism as the key to this book's success is the focus on one boy, Ben, and one whale calf.

Ramage's text and Mark Wilson's illustrations combine wonderfully. Wilson captures the colours of the sky and the sea in a range of moods as well as the feelings of Ben as he fights to save the calf and eventually has to be dragged out of a stormy sea by his father. My favourite spread is a large illustration of the beach full of people, whales and frenetic activity contrasted with a smaller text box picture of Ben supporting the calf and willing it to live on the opposite page. Endpapers also feature scenes of the whales and the sea. This is a beautiful book that will be treasured.