Do Not Forget Australia

by Sally Murphy, illustrated by Sonia Kretschmar

Walker Books Australia. Australian, Picture Book. Hardcover RRP $29.95

Reviewer – Vicki Stanton

Do Not Forget Australia is a fictional story based on the link forged between Melbourne and the French village of Villers-Bretonneux during World War One. It explores the links between Australia and France forged on the Western Front through the eyes of two boys: Henri from the French village of Villers-Bretonneux and Billy in Melbourne.

Murphy immediately catapults the reader into Henri’s world. Initially, he does not know or care about Australia. He is more concerned with the war coming ever closer to his village and one afternoon he and his mother are forced to flee.

The story then switches to Billy who fears for the safety of his father fighting over in France.

Henri returns to his village, damaged by battle and meets the Australian soldiers camped nearby. Henri appreciates their efforts in freeing his village and also empathises with their sadness over fatalities. Henri befriends a soldier, Billy’s father, who talks of his son in faraway Melbourne.

When Billy receives a letter from his father mentioning Henri a link is forged between the two boys and between Melbourne and Villers-Bretonneux. Ultimately, this leads to the rebuilding of the Villers-Bretonneux school with funds raised by Victorian school children. The full page author’s note explains the campaign to raise £20 000 to rebuild Villers-Bretonneux including the Do Not Forget Australia sign displayed at the school.

That the book is a quality production is evident right from the start with the symbolic endpapers with poppies and Australian icons. Sonia Kretschmar’s skill in portraying the two boys’ worlds with her use of colour and detail is commendable. Readers are drawn into the two boys’ worlds and feel the angst and worry, and the devastation wreaked by war without being exposed to the full horror.

Do Not Forget Australia is an important book for all Australians. It is one that should be on all school, home and public library shelves.

The Reading Stack has reviewed Sally Murphy's Pearl Versus the World, Snowy's Christmas, and Toppling in August 2009, December 2009 and March 2010 respectively.

http://www.sallymurphy.net/
http://soniak.com/

Vicki Stanton is the editor and publisher of Buzz Words, an e-newsletter for writers and illustrators of children’s books.

Toppling

by Sally Murphy

Walker Books. Australian, Junior. Paperback rrp $15.95

Guest Reviewer Jo Burnell

It’s hard to talk about cancer even when you are an adult, so how can kids comes to terms with their fears? Toppling is a gently paced verse novel that helps.

Everyone in John’s class is affected by Dom’s absence. It’s one thing to vomit and stink the place out, but something much more serious when you don’t come back to school. Emotions run high with unknowing.

What do you do when you know something is wrong but you don’t know exactly what? John spends hours arranging dominoes in elaborate patterns, then sets them toppling in an instant. It’s his way of finding stillness in confusion. Sally’s visual descriptions let me join John, bum up and head down, as he sets up domino after domino.

However, each little tile must stand vertically within reach of the next for a toppling to work. Life’s a bit like that. Just as friends are interconnected and affected by each other, those who are missing, even for a little while, put the rest out of sync. It takes just one domino to be out of whack for a toppling to fail.

In the gentlest of ways, Sally broaches the tough questions. Does cancer always mean a death sentence? No one ever really knows. When it does, loss and grief can affect those left behind for many years. Making new friends and sharing the pain is a bit like toppling. Reconnecting with others can make things right.

Toppling is a fantastic way to broach the subject of serious illness with children in Primary School. Even though there are no easy answers, Sally Murphy opens doors to discussion. She also alludes that difficult kids can have their reasons for being so. She builds another bridge to understanding and reconnecting: another successful toppling.

http://www.sallymurphy.net/