The challenge for this week was to read a book based on a true story. We've already reviewed a bunch of books based on true stories (Murder on the Orient Express, Affection, The Three Musketeers, etc), so, what to pick next?
The Curriculum Collection came to our rescue, as it always does. We may have previously mentioned that the Curriculum Collection is one of our favourite parts of the library (followed closely by the Special Collections). The allure of pretty illustrations inspired by true stories was impossible to resist.
Well, Bronwyn found a book in the regular collection (or, as we like to call it in our catalogue, "Main"), but she thinks it should be in Special Collections, so it sort of fits with the theme.
Brenda Carter read Where the Forest Meets the Sea, by Jeannie Baker.
A long,
long time ago (1988 in fact) I was privileged to attend an exhibition at Lewers
Bequest and Penrith Regional Art Gallery, NSW. On display were the
original collages created by Jeannie Baker for her latest picture book, Where the Forest Meets the Sea (820.94 BAK). I have since
read this to my children and used it many times in the primary classroom.
In the story, a boy and his father travel in their boat, ‘Time Machine’, to a stretch of beach beside an ancient tropical rainforest. As the boy walks among the trees, he imagines the forest as it might have been in the past. The illustrations are a labyrinth of flora and fauna and, if you look carefully, you may see a dinosaur and the outline of one of the forest’s original human inhabitants. I won’t spoil the final scene but suffice to say it is a warning of what might be.
Much of the delight and impact comes from examining the amazing collages Jeannie has created to portray the rainforest environment. Jeannie explains:
Bronwyn Mathiesen read Remembering Babylon by David Malouf.
Remembering Babylon (820A MAL 1C REM) by David Malouf has a very small connection to a real life event. The name of a character and some words he speaks are taken from an event that really did happen at a similar location and time, but it is otherwise complete fiction.
Try to imagine the coastline of northern Queensland in the early to mid 1850’s, a twelve year old boy, Gemmy is washed up from a ship wreck and accepted by the native people of the area, somewhere roughly around the current site of Bowen. He spends sixteen years with these people and eventually discovers a white settlement that has established in the area.
David Malouf takes the stereotype of a white child raised by natives who re-enters the white community years later and approaches it in a fascinating way. Malouf is clear that the story is not that of Gemmy Morrill (or Moreell) apart from the few words spoken upon being discovered by white settlers, however he has used it as an opening to a story about life in northern Australia that describes the fear and fascination of living in such a wild place, it is telling that Gemmy avoids letting the white settlers know about his aboriginal clan, as he knows what that will lead to, but his position as someone not fully accepted in either world leads to a difficult ending.
Want to know more? Here's something about James ‘Jemmy’ Morrill from the Australian Dictionary of biography.
The Curriculum Collection came to our rescue, as it always does. We may have previously mentioned that the Curriculum Collection is one of our favourite parts of the library (followed closely by the Special Collections). The allure of pretty illustrations inspired by true stories was impossible to resist.
Well, Bronwyn found a book in the regular collection (or, as we like to call it in our catalogue, "Main"), but she thinks it should be in Special Collections, so it sort of fits with the theme.
Brenda Carter read Where the Forest Meets the Sea, by Jeannie Baker.
In the story, a boy and his father travel in their boat, ‘Time Machine’, to a stretch of beach beside an ancient tropical rainforest. As the boy walks among the trees, he imagines the forest as it might have been in the past. The illustrations are a labyrinth of flora and fauna and, if you look carefully, you may see a dinosaur and the outline of one of the forest’s original human inhabitants. I won’t spoil the final scene but suffice to say it is a warning of what might be.
Much of the delight and impact comes from examining the amazing collages Jeannie has created to portray the rainforest environment. Jeannie explains:
The collages are created from a combination of natural and artificial materials. Where I can I like to use textures from the actual materials portrayed such as bark, feathers, cracked paint, earth, knitted wool, tin so that their natural textures become an integral part of the work.
Where the Forest Meets the Sea is a memorable picture book for all
ages. Whenever I drive the Captain Cook Highway towards Port Douglas or visit
the national park at Mossman I am reminded of the beauty and message of this
story.
Bronwyn Mathiesen read Remembering Babylon by David Malouf.
Try to imagine the coastline of northern Queensland in the early to mid 1850’s, a twelve year old boy, Gemmy is washed up from a ship wreck and accepted by the native people of the area, somewhere roughly around the current site of Bowen. He spends sixteen years with these people and eventually discovers a white settlement that has established in the area.
David Malouf takes the stereotype of a white child raised by natives who re-enters the white community years later and approaches it in a fascinating way. Malouf is clear that the story is not that of Gemmy Morrill (or Moreell) apart from the few words spoken upon being discovered by white settlers, however he has used it as an opening to a story about life in northern Australia that describes the fear and fascination of living in such a wild place, it is telling that Gemmy avoids letting the white settlers know about his aboriginal clan, as he knows what that will lead to, but his position as someone not fully accepted in either world leads to a difficult ending.
Want to know more? Here's something about James ‘Jemmy’ Morrill from the Australian Dictionary of biography.
Sharon Bryan read Horace the Baker's Horse, by Jackie French.
Jackie French is something of a go-to writer for books based on true stories. Even Diary of a Wombat was loosely based on a real wombat. So it was an absolute delight to have a really good excuse to review Horace the Baker's Horse (c820.94 FREN), which is based on a story French's grandmother told her, about a baker's horse who delivered the bread by itself.
Horace is a baker's horse, and an indispensable part of the team. Three generations take care of baking the bread for the town (Old William, Big Bill and Young Billy), but Horace does the rounds of all the houses - usually with Big Bill holding the rains.
Then, one day, the flu epidemic sweeps through the town, and the bakers aren't immune. Old William succumbs first, then Big Bill. Young Billy does what he can to mix the dough through the night and bake the bread, but after working all night, he's too exhausted to deliver the bread. Horace, however, knows the route so well that he happily trots off and delivers the bread all by himself - becoming a life-line to many families brought down by the flu.
Peter Bray's illustrations are absolutely marvellous, and the combination of French's story and Bray's images make this a "must have" book, in my opinion. The depiction of an Australian country town in the early 20th Century is just gorgeous, and this book would make a wonderful gift. Not just for kids, either. While I was writing this review, several of my colleagues pinched the book off my desk to read (I had to go looking for it to get it back).
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