Stickboy

Stickboy by Rebecca Young and Matt Ottley (Scholastic Australia) HB PB RRP $26.99 ISBN 9781742994468

Reviewed by Karen Hendriks

Rebecca Young and Matt Ottley’s picture book Teacup won the picture Wrightson Prize for Children’s Literature in the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards 2016 and was published internationally.

Rebecca Young loves working with words and pictures as both a publisher and an author. Her picture book The Speedy Sloth was ALIA’s National Simultaneous Storytime picture book for 2023.

Matt Ottley is a multi-modal artist working across visual arts, music and literature. He is an award-winning picture book writer and illustrator with over 25 picture books published.  Ottley has written music for this book that will be recorded in Prague and this work will become the eleventh in his Sound of Picture series. It will be performed in Australia in 2025.

Stickboy lives in a dry and barren land where hunters seek water. Stickboy is always left behind. He finds solace in the moon and his grandmother’s stories of when oceans covered the land. Stickboy and his grandmother believe the water will return. The wind tells Stickboy he will be the one to find water. This is a story about incredible courage and spirit.

Rebecca Young’s poetic writing style pulls heart strings and matches beautifully with Matt Ottley’s intricate illustration style. The words used to describe place and change are powerful. Stickboy lived in wind and dust, where ancient rock loomed. From the very first sentence, Young calls upon a reader’s imagination. The language is beautiful and powerful. She spoke of magnificent creatures that moved through the water like a flock of birds curving across the sky.

The pacing unfolds the story beautifully. But he raced the wind to find their footprints, again and again. The emotional arc is strong, and it feels like you are inside the story. Everyone glared at Stickboy. They yelled and screamed and pushed and shoved. Young says so much with so few words. On the days in between, everyone searched for water. Masterfully, Young knows exactly when in the story to tell and when to show. No one knew that his heart was a well that could find an army. 

Matt Ottley’s illustrations are sparse and powerful. The last spreads are wordless and say so much more than any words ever could. They are hauntingly beautiful. The colour palette reflects the bare and barren place perfectly. The reader’s eye is immediately drawn to certain images on each spread that enhance the storytelling. For example, Sometimes the earth creaked and shifted... and swallowed memories, whole.

On the double spread Ottley has a huge metal ship that sits on a dry parched land and Stickboy and a wolf are small. The text gives Ottley room to shine his masterful visual storytelling. The images are allowed to speak and are not crowded by text. This picture book allows both the words and images to speak on so many levels to the reader as they seamlessly work together. Ottley’s use of light and shade dramatizes the story and the moments that are poignant.

Stickboy is a picture book that will resonate strongly with readers five years and older. It touches upon the themes of home and belonging and hints at environmental conservation. I think this book will become another award-winning book. The combination of Young and Ottley is pure picture book gold.

The Colour of Music

The Colour of Music by Lisa Tiffen, illustrated by Matt Ottley (Midnight Sun) HB RRP $29.99 ISBN 9781925227871

Reviewed by Nikki M Heath

Molly lies on the floor and surrenders to a cacophony of colour and pattern, as her music pulls her through an intense landscape of emotions. The reader travels with her as she experiences colour, shape, and emotion while listening to a mystery piece.

Written and illustrated by creators who have synaesthesia, this book resonates emotionally with the reader. The book transports those of us with a more straightforward relationship with music into Molly’s multidimensional experience. Abstract in imagery and language, there is space for exploration and interpretation, as well as an opportunity to introduce readers who may be exclusively familiar with commercial pop to other musical genres.

 

This is a sophisticated book in both vocabulary and artwork. While some of the words will be a stretch for younger readers, the text is poetic and evocative. The painterly illustrations range from splashes of colour and shape to a garden of instruments, with wordless double spreads beautifully conveying emotions like peace, loneliness, and anger.

The only jarring note in this symphonic picture book is the rendering of Molly wearing headphones to listen to her music, which conflicts with the suggestion in the opening spread that she can feel the vibrations through the floorboards. That said, the headphones work to convey the act of listening without relying on cliches such as floating music notes, which would have diluted the visual impact.

An immersive experience with particular appeal for musicians in the making, and an eye- (ear-?) opener for those less musically inclined. Recommended for anyone aged 4 years and above.

Crusts

Crusts by Danny Parker and Matt Ottley (Little Hare Books) HB RRP $24.99   ISBN 9781742979830

Reviewed by J Wishart

This dynamic picture book is dedicated to all those children who don’t eat their crusts. Sure to resonate with many, its main protagonist, Jacob, is not a crust-eater. His story is delivered via an engaging parallel narrative that also follows three tiny aliens from a distant planet.

The aliens need help as their small planet is crumbling. They have travelled to earth to find the right material to build it up again. When they discover Jacob’s massive stash of discarded crusts they think their problems are solved – until it comes to getting them home. The aliens try to communicate with Jacob through his drawings in the hope he will help. Jacob does start building things with his crusts, but the aliens are disappointed when he seems to be only beginning to explore his crust-fuelled creativity.

The arrangement of Ottley’s lively drawings has the look and feel of a graphic novel or comic. The use of box frames with images from various perspectives – sometimes placed over the main illustration – convey a sense of activity and the passage of time. The alien’s conversations are presented like speech bubbles, while Jacob’s narrative is presented in a conventional story format. This places the reader ‘on side’ with the aliens – observing Jacob – and increases the suspense as they wait to see what he will do next.

Crusts touches on themes such as imagination, resourcefulness, determination and vision. Even the endpapers hint at adventure that lies beyond, with their glimpse of blue sky through a small window. There is humour in the form of visual gags to entertain the observant, and the combination of dialogue, visuals and narrative aid comprehension. 

Readers should enjoy the parallel stories and relate to the scenes of backyard play, invention and the ever-present childhood dilemma over what to do with those unwanted crusts.

Teacup

Teacup by Rebecca Young, illustrated by Matt Ottley (Scholastic Press)

HB RRP $24.99

ISBN 978-1-74362-384-8

Reviewed by Jenny Heslop

Teacup is a beautiful story. It is soft and gentle, with words which almost fade off the pages, yet it tells an enormous story about being displaced, about isolation and about finding a new home.

A young boy sets off in a boat with almost no possessions to find a new place to live. On his journey he watches the waves, the clouds, the stars and the sea creature, all reminding him of what he has left behind.

The illustrations are stunning. They range from grand to simple and use great contrasts in dark and light to create an emotional reaction. They capture isolation, longing and change so well.

The words, also, make this an evocative and beautiful reading experience.

‘And the way the clouds slowly swam into view reminded him of how things can change with a whisper.’

The peaceful air of dreamy contemplation – along with the tree growing in a teacup – make me think of Michael Leunig's work, subtly exploring what it means to be a refugee.

From the wonderful front cover, to the soft and ‘barely there’ end papers, this is a visually appealing picture book. And with many layers to the tale it tells, this is a rich, subtle, satisfying story infused with great hope. 

Suri’s Wall

Suri’s Wall by Lucy Estela and Matt Ottley (Penguin/Viking) HB RRP $24.99 ISBN9780670077755

Reviewed by Dianne Bates

Suri would appear to be an orphan living in an orphanage in a walled town. A much taller child than her counterparts, she is friendless but finds comfort as she brushes the stones of the encompassing wall with her fingertips. ‘The wall was Suri’s only friend and the touch of the stones gave her warmth.’

One day, finding herself taller, Lucy finally sees over the wall. It is then that one of the orphans, Eva, befriends her and asks Suri to describe what is beyond the walls of the town. What Suri describes is not written by revealed by Ottley’s exquisite painted illustrations. There is a golden arch, a peacock, butterflies, a harbour filled with ships and much more. Now that she can see beyond into another world, Suri is finally befriended by the orphans and continues with her storytelling. Towards the end of the book a soldier says to Suri, ‘They will find out, you know.’ Who the ‘they’ is remains a mystery, but surely it must be the higher powers that guard the town.

The theme of this book would seem to be that one becomes popular and a leader by having a wider vision of the world. And that this can be a threat to some who would prefer the lesser beings to remain imprisoned. The only way out of imprisonment is to see beyond, into the future. One wonders, though, would a child reader understand this? What would a small child make of this book, one wonders.

What does make this book memorable are the illustrations. When the setting is inside the imprisoned (walled) world, the mood of the watercolour pictures is gloomy, but the artist’s palette sings with colour and detail when Suri’s visions are revealed. Towards the end of the book the children hear a booming sound – perhaps it is a signal of disaster to come; it’s difficult to imagine what it might be and there is nothing to indicate what it is. In the final page, Suri simply continues describing the world beyond.

It’s also difficult to tell what age group this book is targeted towards, but the reading level indicates that a child 8+ years ought to be able to read it.

Tree

Tree by Danny Parker, illustrated by Matt Ottley (Hardie Grant Egmont)

HB RRP $24.95

ISBN 9781921714412

Reviewed by Lillian Rodrigues-Pang

www.thestoryline.com.au

This book is an absolute graphic delight. Matt Ottley is a master of colour and perspective. I delighted in the range and depth of images presented throughout.

The story is simple yet powerful. It tells of a sapling that grows under the shelter of an older tree, within a forest of trees. Time passes and a storm changes everything. The tree must then stand a lone through the clean up, the growing urbanisation of its environment, changes in use and then happily becoming just one in a park. In the end tree is offering shelter to a new sapling.

Overall it’s a gentle visually pleasing book which speaks to the environment and resilience. I highly recommend it.

Luke’s Way of Looking

Walker Classics: Luke’s Way of Looking by Nadia Wheatley, illustrated by Matt Ottley (Walker Books)
PB RRP $ 16.95
ISBN 9781921977725
Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

Reissued through Walker Classics, this is a poignant story with strong themes of a boy who sees the world differently and expresses it through his art. This causes him to be bullied and marginalized by his teacher and peers.

Being different makes Luke an outsider. He can’t explain why he paints things in a way the teacher can’t understand. His classmates mock him and he’s friendless and alone.

Luke decides not to go to school one day. He’s tired of being laughed at and having his brushes broken by his angry teacher. He takes the opposite road and stays on a bus that passes a building which looks different to other buildings from the outside.  When Luke goes in, he feels an immediate affinity with his abstract surroundings.  He wonders what his teacher would think if he could see the different interpretations and styles of painting and art creations. Luke recognizes a separate place where everything his eyes look upon is beautiful.

Overflowing with happiness, Luke sets off for home. The world around him seems changed. The revelation that there is a place where he belongs has made him a new person. He decides to go to afternoon classes. Nothing bad can touch him now. When Luke starts to paint his way, the teacher remains silent.

Matt Ottley has captured the essence of the text, and through his illustrations we can feel the emotions the boy and the teacher are feeling. Its colour-filled covers depict Luke joyously liberated and swinging from a tree branch amidst his abstract art. This was a CBCA Honour Book and is now another classic available again to a new audience of readers.

At the end of the book there is a full page summary of the story by Dr Robin Morrow, President of IBBY Australia. Following is a page each of biographical information on the writer and illustrator.