change – Aussie Reviews

Through the Gate, by Sally Fawcett

I sat on the broken front step of the ‘new’ house.
New town, new school … nothing was the same.

When she first sees her ‘new’ house, a young girl sees nothing but ‘old’ – drooping roof, peeling paint, a crumbling step, and cracks everywhere. She is not impressed. She does not like change. At all. She plods off to her first week of school. But after the first week, she notices a tiny change to her house. As the weeks past, the house continues to change – and so does her movement, until, finally, she skips towards her new home.

Through the Gate is a clever, feel-good book about coping with change and, particularly, moving home. Visually, the transformation of the house from a tumble down cottage with a broken picket fence, to a beautifully restored house, with fence and garden, is clever. The use of colour – with early illustrations showing all but the girl in grey scale, and colour being added progressively as the house changes – highlights the girl’s changing attitude as she finds pleasure in her new life, and adapts to the changes.

A wonderful story of resilience.

Through the Gate, by Sally Fawcett
EK Books, 2017
ISBN 9781925335415

Bogtrotter, by Margaret Wild & Judith Rossell

He ran day after day,
week after week,
year after year.
Sometimes he felt bored,
but he didn’t know why.
Sometimes he wished things would change,
but he didn’t know how or what or why.

Every day Bogtrotter comes out of his cave, stretches and runs: up the bog, down the bog and around the bog, until it is time to go home. Sometimes he feels discontent, but he doesn’t know why, or how to change things, until he meets a frog who causes him to question why he always does things the same way. That afternoon he picks a flower for the first time, which leads to other changes.

Bogtrotter is a lovely tale of the joy of life and taking risks. The Bogtrotter is a grassy green being with a cuddly body and big smile. His surroundings are simple, making him the chief focus of the illustrations. His energy and expressions make him a delightful star.

Bogtrotter, suitable for kids (and adults) of all ages, is wonderful way of exploring the value of thinking outside the square.

Bogtrotter, by Margaret Wild & Judith Rossell
Walker Books, 2015
ISBN 9781921977558

Available from good bookstores and online.

Violet Mackerel’s Personal Space by Anna Branford ill Sarah Davis

Violet Mackerel is on a summer holiday at the beach with her sister, Nicola, her brother, Dylan, her mum and her mum’s boyfriend, Vincent. It is nearly the end of the holiday and Violet is wishing it was still the beginning.

At the beach house where they are staying there are bunk beds. Violet has been sleeping on the bottom bunk. She has tucked a sheet under the mattress of the top bunk and dangled it down, so it is a small personal space of her own.

Violet has had a lovely time with her family at the beach, but now it’s time to go home. As she packs up she discovers a left-behind shell, and develops a new theory. This one is about leaving something of yourself behind when you leave. But thoughts of leaving little things behind are forgotten when Mum and Vincent make an announcement. It’s a double-barrelled announcement, and although Violet is happy about the first part, the moving-house second part is going to take some time to get used to. Violet thinks things through at her own pace as the world around her begins to swirl with change.

Violet Mackerel’s Personal Space is a new instalment in a series about Violet. As with previous offerings, it’s a beautiful hardcover book, with Sarah Davis’s gentle illustrations. Each opening includes black & white illustrations designed to intersperse the text and give the reader the opportunity to pause. Endpapers feature shells set in th same orange as the spine. Young Violet is surrounded by a supportive family, but she is determined to work her own way through things. In this case, it’s the notion of personal space and that it’s a different notion for everyone. ‘Violet Mackerel’s Personal Space’ uses Violet’s perspective to examine the responses of all the family members to the changes they are encountering. Delightful. Recommended for mid-primary readers.

Violet Mackerel’s Personal Spaceby Anna Branford ill Sarah Davis
Walker Books 2012
ISBN: 9781921529207

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

This book is available from good bookstores or online from Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews.

The Red Bridge, by Kylie Dunstan

Claire had said goodbye to all her favourite people
and flown a long way from home.

Everything was different, the smells, the sky, the sounds.
Everything seemed difficult.

Claire and her family have moved overseas, to a city where everything seems terribly different to her home in Australia. Claire worries about lots of things – the language, the traffic, the food – but most of all she wonders how she will make new friends. Maybe, her mother suggests, the friends will find her. And that is exactly what happens. Claire is waved to by a little girl on the back of a bike, and smiled at by a boy in a restaurant. When she meets the girl again in the markets, she knows she has a new friend. But it is when Claire finds herself lost on a walk that her new friend, Kieu, actually finds her, and shows her the way home.

The Red Bridge is a sumptuous picture book about friendship and about change. Claire moves across the world, but the fears she feels are just as real for children going through any move, or even other changes in their lives. How will I make friends? How will I know how to do things? How will I get around? Claire is guided by her mother, who doesn’t express her own fears at the same changes, yet perhaps best shows them in her triumphant cheer when they manage to get across a busy road together. But Mum also has the courage to let Claire explore her new neighbourhood after they’ve become familiar, a nice touch which is perhaps a gentle reminder for nervous parents to let go.

Illustrated in generously rich reds, browns and golden tones using Dunstan’s delightful mixed media collage, The Red Bridge is a beautiful offering suitable for early childhood readers.

The Red Bridge, by Kylie Dunstan
Windy Hollow Books, 2011
ISBN 9781921136726

This book can be purchased in good bookstores, or online from Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews.