Ursula Dubosarsky – Aussie Reviews

The Blue Cat, by Ursula Dubosarsky

A few streets away, a car putting down the twisted hill. It halted outside a block of mulberry-brick flats. A small boy emerged from the back seat, out onto the pavement. He was carrying a suitcase. He stood there, looking upwards. His skin gleamed like snow.
in the middle of the road a sleek cat lay stretched out, absorbing the sunshine.

It is 1942, and Columba (who was named after a nun) is growing up in war time Sydney. A new boy – a refugee from ‘You-rope’ – appears in the neighborhood, at about the same time as a strange blue cat. Columba is intrigued by the new boy, Ellery, though he doesn’t speak English and Columba struggles to understand where he has come from and why he is here. This isn’t the only thing she struggles to understand. Why are the cloaks being put forward for an hour? Why do the adults talk about ‘taking people’s minds off things? And, with Singapore falling, and regular air raid practices, will they be safe here in Sydney?

The Blue Cat is an enchanting piece of writing. Historical fiction with just a tiny twist of magical realism, it is a gentle story of the confusion of a child faced with frightening, not-quite-understood events. With an insight into how the childhood experiences of Australians during the war years, and to harbourside Sydney life, this is an entrancing read.

The Blue Cat, by Ursula Dubosarsky
Allen & Unwin, 2017
ISBN 9781760292294

Two Tales of Twins from Ancient Greece and Rome, retold by Ursula Dubosarsky ill David Allen

Artemis and Apollo: Twins of the Moon and the Sun

Once there was a pair of astonishing twins – girl named Artemis and a boy named Apollo.

Artemis and Apollo were born on the island of Delos. This was no ordinary island. It floated around the sea, never keeping still. But it was the perfect for the twins to be born, because their mother, Leto, had been told she was not allowed to give birth on solid land. Artemis was born first. She was such a clever baby that as soon as she was born, she immediately helped Leto give birth to the second twin, a baby boy, Apollo.

Artemis and Apollo: Twins of the Moon and the Sun

Once there was a pair of astonishing twins – girl named Artemis and a boy named Apollo.

Artemis and Apollo are the twin children of Leto and the god Zeus. They are amazing children born into an amazing family. Their lives are full of adventure, danger and wonder. This retelling focuses on their birth and childhood while briefly mentioning their future roles as Moon and Sun gods.

Romulus and Remus are twin boys born in dangerous times in Ancient Rome. Although dearly loved, they are set afloat in the Tiber River to keep them safe from their warring uncle. Their uncle has stolen their father’s crown. They are guided by the river god and set upon the bank where a mother wolf nurtures them. Some time later they are found by a shepherd and his wife and raised as their own. As they grow, they become restless and fix upon a plan to leave their home and begin a kingdom of their own.

Illustrations are black outline and mostly pastel coloured, reminiscent of hand coloured lino prints.

‘Two Tales of Twins’ offers a pair of stories from ancient mythologies, written for a young audience, but rich with detail and drama. They provide an introduction to these complex and often contradictory tales through the stories that young readers can relate to – where the main characters are children. They stand alone as complete stories, but for interested readers they offer many opportunities to seek out more of the stories, more of the mythology. Recommended for primary-aged children.

Two Tales of Twins from Ancient Greece and Rome, retold Ursula Dubosarsky ill David Allen
Christmas Press 2014 ISBN: 9780992283834

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s author and bookseller

www.clairesaxby.com

Stories for 5 Year Olds, edited by Linsay Knight

Some of the best-known names in Australian children’s literature, with offerings new and old, combine in this wonderful new anthology targeted at, as the name suggests, five year old readers. Contributors include Ursula Dubosarsky, Janeen Brian , Mark Macleod and more, and Tom Jellett provides grey scale illustrations

A couple of the stories (The Two Gorillas, by Dubosarsky and The Gorilla Suit by Victor Kelleher) were previously published as part of Penguin’s Aussie Nibble’s series, and others have been published in School Magazine or by other publishers. Two stories (Charlotte the Explorer, by Dianne Bates and Look! by Lizzie Horne) appear here for the first time.

Good stuff.

Stories for Five Year Olds, edited by Linsay Knight
Random House, 2012
ISBN 9781742756660

Available from good bookstores or online from Fishpond.

All are well targeted for five year old readers, each suitable for reading aloud in a single sitting. Early independent readers would also find the stories accessible.

The Carousel, by Ursula Dubosarsky & Walter Di Qual

This a book which makes for repeated oral readings, particularly by adult readers to children, who will love the rhythm of the words and the magic of the horses – real or imagined.

One winter’s day my dad and I
Went down to see the carousel.
We stood and watched as round and round
The little horses rose and fell.

This enchanting rhyming picture book begins with the protagonsit,a young girl, watching the carousel with her father before she, too, gets to ride on one of the painted horses. On the ride she is transported, imaging herself galloping free as the wind far from the carousel. But, when the ride slows, the girl feels the horse’s sorrow that it can never be free to leap and bound, to wander in the wilds. So she makes a wish that all of the horses will be free – a wish that she believes come true, with the sound of hooves in the night and the horses running free ever after.

The Carousel is a magical tale of imagination and freedom, told in rhyming verse which scans with a rhythmic echo of the rocking of the horses as they canter free. Most spreads have just one four line stanza, allowing the illustrations to dominate the text. And what illustrations they are – mixed media renderings of the magic of the carousel, and of the horse galloping across red earth, through blue water and against purple night skies.

This a book which makes for repeated oral readings, particularly by adult readers to children, who will love the rhythm of the words and the magic of the horses – real or imagined.

The Carousel, by Ursula Dubosarsky & Walter Di Qual

Viking, 2011
ISBN 9780670074624

This book can be purchased in good bookstores or online from Fishpond

The Golden Day, by Ursula Dubosarsky

There were only eleven of them, like eleven sisters all the same age in a large family. Because it was such a very small class, they had a very small classroom, which was perched at the very tip of the school.
‘Today, girls,’ said Miss Renshaw, ‘we shall go out into the beautiful garden and think about death.’

It is 1967 and eleven young girls take regular trips to the local gardens with their teacher, to observe life, to write poetry and to learn from the gardener, Morgan, who is a poet. But on the day that a man is hanged, Miss Renshaw takes them to the gardens to think about death. Glad of the chance for fresh air, the girls don’t object. But when Morgan offers to show them a cave at the beach near the park, something terrible happens. Miss Renshaw disappears.

When the girls are forced to return to school alone, they are not sure how much they should share with the adults who question them – after all, Miss Renshaw told them that Morgan and the cave were their secret. Will they get in trouble if they tell the truth?

The Golden Day is a beautiful novel with and atmosphere and dream-like intrigue similar to Picnic at Hanging Rock. Readers are invited to know the girls and to suffer with them in their child-like confusion, at the same time trying to puzzle out what has happened to Miss Renshaw, and unravel other mysteries which arise as the story unfolds.

Not a long volume, there is still a lot here to digest, leaving the reader thinking about the story long after the last page is turned.

The Golden Day, by Ursula Dubosarsky
Allen & Unwin, 2011
ISBN This book can be purchased in good bookstores, or online from Fishpond. Buying through this link supports Aussiereviews.

The Red Shoe, by Ursula Dubosarsky

The earth smelt strong to Matilda and full of things growing and dying all at the same time. She thought about the grey-green tangled bush at the end of the street, full of cowboys and Red Indians, waiting with their guns and their bows and arrows. She thought about the Japs and the Germans…She thought about the sad smiling man with his chess set and the newsreel and her tennis ball…

It is 1954 and six year old Matilda is living with her family in post-war Sydney. Her father is often away, working on shipping lines, and her older sister Elizabeth has recently had a breakdown. Her mother struggles to keep the family together, aided by Uncle Paul, who visits frequently. Matilda struggles to make sense of the world around her, haunted by memories of a family picnic which went horribly wrong, and by the absence of her father from a splintering family.

The Red Shoe is a haunting novel of family and of time, with events of the day shaping the course of the story. While Matilda’s father struggles with memories of the war, Matilda is increasingly aware of the threat of polio, and the Petrov Affair proves to be closer than the newspaper articles which are sprinkled throughout the paper, with a mysterious man hiding under guard in the house next door.

Dubosarsky weaves elements of mystery, of family tension, and of childlike simplicity together to create a plot which snares the reader and keeps the pages turning in search of answers to the clues. This is a beautiful tale for young adult and adult readers.

The Red Shoe, by Ursula Dubosarsky
Allen & Unwin, 2006