Tim takes me back to my home in Lille.
We try to find my uncles and aunts but they are all gone.
Tim says he will be my family.
When Honore walks into a camp on a military airfield, he is cold and hungry. he has been drawn into the camp by the smell of a Christmas turkey. Allowed to stay, because he has no home, soon Honore, an orphan, becomes known as Henry or Young Digger, and makes himself useful around the camp. The airmen all treat him well, but one, named Tim, takes special care of him, treating him like a son. When Henri’s family can’t be located, Tim promises to look after him. So, when the time comes for Tim to return to his home in Australia, he has to find a way to smuggle Henri on board the ship.
The Little Stowaway tells the true story of a young orphan who was befriended by Australian airmen near the end of World War 1 and who w s subsequently brought to live in Australia with his carer, Tim Tovell, and his family. The story has been simplified to key events for the picture book format and uses historical photographs alongside beautiful sepia and grey-scale illustrations.
Primary aged readers will be fascinated by this intriguing piece of Australian and French history.
The Little Stowaway, by Vicki Bennett & Tull Suwannakit
Scholastic, 2018
ISBN 9781742993072