My Place by Sally Morgan

My Place by Sally Morgan (Fremantle Press) PB RRP $23:00 ISBN: 9781925816761

Reviewed by Jeffery E Doherty

My Place is a great Australian classic, one of the best loved biographies of Aboriginal Australia ever written. It has now been adapted for younger readers. From the blurb: ‘Sally Morgan always wondered about her family: who they were; where they came from; what they were hiding. She asked questions but received few answers. So, Sally travelled to her grandmother’s birthplace. What started as a tentative search for information, became an extraordinary pilgrimage that would change their lives forever.’

My Place is a search by the author for identity and belonging. The dedication to her family sums up the essence of the book. “How deprived we would have been if we had been willing to let things stay as they were. We would have survived, but not as a whole people. We would have never known our place.”

Sally’s story begins in the mid 1950’s in Perth, Western Australia, as a five-year-old, visiting her father in hospital. All through her childhood, she had questions for her mother and grandmother about their family. Questions like, why did Nan hide whenever she bought friends home after school. Over the years she received lots of evasion and very few answers. This emotive, often heart-wrenching and beautifully written book explores Sally’s search for answers about her heritage. It took her entire childhood, through her university years and into adulthood before she found the answers to her identity. My Place not only tells her own story, but explores the story of her great uncle, her mother and grandmother, giving the reader a glimpse of the inequality and hardships faced by the aboriginal people. What she finally discovered was a rich heritage and the sense of belonging she had been searching for her entire life. She found her place.

I usually read books as an escape from the real world, and it is rare that I read non-fiction or biographies for pleasure. This is not a book I would have chosen to read. I am so glad that Claire from Fremantle Press sent this book to me for review. Not only is it, the sharing of a touching and emotional journey of discovery, it resonates with me on a personal level. I was in my late twenties when I discovered my own aboriginal heritage. Reading My Place has made me even more determined to delve deeper into the rich culture I missed out on as a child. My Place was originally published as three separate books in 1987. It remains highly relevant today. 

This adapted version combines the three books into one volume. I highly recommend this wonderful biography for both adults and younger readers.

The Night before Christmas

The Night before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore, illustrated by Helene Magisson,  (New Frontier Publishing) PB RRP: $24.99 ISBN 9781925059700

Reviewed by Rebecca Newman

This picture book features the text of the famous poem with illustrations by Helen Magisson. The text will be familiar to many adults and is easy and satisfying to read aloud.

Magisson’s illustrations have that special Christmas glow, with the colours of a traditional northern-hemisphere winter — candy cane reds, aqua-white snow, and a liberal sprinkling of snowflake dots over everything outdoors. There are illustrative details in the bottom corners of many of the pages to reward the attentive young reader. (I like the wind-up ballerina, and the household cat chasing a wind-up mouse.)

The Night Before Christmas evokes all the excitement of an old-fashioned childhood Christmas and would be a lovely addition to a child’s Christmas picture book collection.

My Donkey Benjamin

My Donkey Benjamin by Hans Limmer and Lennart Osbeck (Scribble) HB RRP $24.95 ISBN 9781925321234

Reviewed by Dianne Bates

Originally published in the late 1960s and currently in its 42^nd edition, this is a new English tradition of a modernist picture book classic. Illustrated throughout with clear black and white photographs, My Donkey Benjamin is told from the point of view of blonde-haired Susanne whom everyone calls Susi. Benjamin, who Susi calls Ben, is small like her, a baby donkey found by the girl and her father alone among rocks on Rhodes, near the Mediterranean Sea. Angelika, Susi’s baby sister, squeals with delight when toddler Susi and her dad bring home the donkey.

The book’s photos show the interior of Susi’s house with its white-washed walls and pebble floor where Ben seems to be allowed to have free reign. Susie lies across Ben, washes his face from a tub, ties white bandages on his head, and romps through the house. When the two are outdoors, the reader can see the dozens of Mediterranean houses and the sea beyond. At night Susi and Ben fall asleep in a makeshift bed – indoors, of course.

One day, Ben disappears, and of course Susi goes in search of him, and then the two are lost. Of course the book ends happily, both greeted at home by Mum and Dad.

This is a beautiful and engaging picture book sure to be enjoyed by small children being read to by their mum or dad.

The Mouse and His Child

The Mouse and His Child by Russell Hoban, illustrated by Lillian Hoban (Allen & Unwin) PB RRP $14.99

ISBN 9780571307555

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

This classic was first printed in 1967.  Russell Hoban has left a magnificent legacy to the world of children’s books. Anyone who has not undertaken a journey into his work, I suggest you explore his incredible talent.

As always, Hoban’s work is composed of strong philosophical messages and powerful themes that weave in and out of clever prose and a well-crafted story. The illustrations are by Russell’s wife, Lillian Hoban.

The backstory begins with two tin wind-up toy mice. They are father and son that live in a grand doll’s house until they are purchased from the toy shop to be placed under a Christmas tree. For years they are taken out and wound only during the days of Christmas, before they are crushed by a falling vase and thrown into the rubbish bin. A homeless man that had admired them through the shop window before their sale, retrieves them, patches them up, and sets them on their way to whatever is waiting for them.

 

They go on a courageous, lengthy journey which becomes a lesson in self-discovery. Great change occurs in both father and child mouse. They restore themselves from the broken shells they had become due to bad experiences and betrayals, overcome starvation and immobility, and endure everything to remain free. Their past prepares them for what’s to come.

Roles are reversed. The last are now first; the enemy now an ally and friend.

This story is about a ‘scattering regathered’, hope and optimism, and the power and liberation of forgiveness. It’s about family and a place of one’s own; the realization of dreams, and justice, as everything comes full circle. Absolutely brilliant!

The Big Fish

The Big Fish written and illustrated by Pamela Allen (Penguin/Viking) HB with slip cover RRP $24.99 ISBN 9780670078974

Reviewed by Dianne Bates

New Zealander Pamela Allen never seems to fail when it comes to producing an attractive and effective picture book for the younger reader. In this, her latest, she has a fisherman, his wife, two children and their dog setting off to a river to catch a fish. Dad casts off, but while singing a song about his wish to catch a fish, he suddenly finds something biting. It’s big, too. Almost falling in, he calls to his wife to help. Both almost fall in, and you’ve guessed it – one after another the two children try to help. However, the fish tugs them all in. Then they have to get out. Saved by the dog!

This is a circular story with musical language, much repetition, a happy ending, and a last page (and typical) Pamela Allen question for the young reader. It all seems so effortless, and makes for great reading and re-reading with the young reader perhaps joining in with the recurring song. Also appealing are Allen’s illustrations which use lots of pen and ink line work and bright colour and masses of white space. This gives the pages a clean and attractive look.

For more than thirty years, Allen’s picture books have enchanted generations of children around the world. They have garnered a glittering array of top awards and commendations in Australia, New Zealand and internationally. This book is no doubt going to be a classic, well-loved by children aged four and up all over the world.

The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker written by Margrete Lamond, illustrated by Ritva Voutila (Little Hare Books/Hardie Grant Egmont)

HB RRP $24.95

ISBN 9781742977782

Reviewed by Liz Ledden

This beautiful reworking of the classic Hoffman’s tale, The Nutcracker, combines Lamond’s lyrical language and Voutila’s stunning illustrations to draw out the original story’s emotional heart.

Gentle, thoughtful Marie is enamoured with the carefully crafted wooden toys made by family friend Mr Drosselmeier. Her patience and appreciation of details is in contrast with the greedy, selfish nature displayed by her brother Fritz, who dismisses Marie’s enchantment with a wooden nutcracker topped with the sweet yet sad face of a boy. When he purposefully breaks it, it’s hard to not to feel for Marie as she tenderly cares for the toy and wishes he was a real boy – a friend with qualities just like hers.

The ensuing battle with the mouse king and dreamlike adventure with the nutcracker reveals Marie’s bravery and loyalty. Readers are transported on a wondrous journey, where Marie finds someone who loves to ‘delight and dawdle’ as much as she does.

The much longer word count than most picture books will suit the attention spans of school aged children, particularly those around the seven mark. This is a ‘forever’ kind of book with major shelf display appeal – a timeless classic to be treasured and passed down to the next generation.

The Twelve Days of Christmas

The Twelve Days of Christmas by Alison Jay (Koala Books)

HB RRP $19.99

ISBN 978-1-74276-114-5

Reviewed by Jenny Heslop

The Twelve Days of Christmas is a classic Christmas carol which most people know well. On each of the twelve days of Christmas, a man buys a gift for his true love, each one getting bigger and more extravagant.

The counting and the repetition within the lyrics make it perfect for a picture book but the absolute delight (and cleverness) of The Twelve Days of Christmas is the illustrations. There is so much to marvel over on so many different levels.

At first glance they are old-fashioned paintings; beautiful, glowing scenes, cracked with age. But the closer you look, the more you see. From the hustle and bustle of Christmas preparations in the town to the quieter, but still active, country life, there is so much going on around the man and woman as they walk through the story.

Every page provides a clue to what the next gift will be – on the page before ‘six geese a-laying’ two geese float on the river as the couple cross a bridge. Hidden away on every page is Father Christmas, and he is not always easy to spot!

Also hidden away on most pages are little humorous scenes – such as a policeman chasing a turkey down the street – and links back to precious gifts. And I’m sure much more that I have missed. These are illustrations which can be studied for great lengths of time.

So many themes of Christmas are included; families, carolling, gifts, and parties. 

This is an engrossing book for quiet contemplation as well as for reading to young ones during the December preparations.