Image Source: Green Valley spices
Here is the dedication by Jane Jolly:
"To all the Sikhs, who have had the courage to leave their homelands and make a new life in Australia, bringing with them their rich culture. Australia is a greater place for it."
Annie and her brother are waiting for Bhawan Singh and his wagon to arrive. He always brings treasures to their remote farm.
"Silks from Kashmir, soaps from Morocco, spices from Ceylon ... Annie could see what Dad would want. A work shirt. And Mum would want a bolt of Bhagwan's embossed silk from India to sew a dress."
But Annie is drawn to a beautiful beaded hair comb. Both children enjoy some delicious spun sugar. Later that evening Bhagwan sets up his small camp. He cooks some delicious food. The food is flavoured with a tiny star.
"Annie held it to her nose and sniffed. It smelt of liquorice and bark and faraway lands."
Blurb from The Book Garden: The hawker's wagon jingled and jangled as it came down the track ... Annie and Arthur have been eagerly awaiting Bhagwan Singh's next visit. What wondrous things will he have in his cart this time, among the silk and soap, spices and shirts? As the hawker makes his camp for the night, the children savour spun sugar and food from the Punjab, discovering the secret star anise. A gentle story about embracing different traditions, based on the stories of Sikh hawkers in Australia in the late 1800s.
This book contains an aspect of Australian history that may be unfamiliar to most young readers. There is so much cultural respect in this book from the description of the harnesses which are polished and have glistening brass buckles so we know the hawker cares for his equipment through to the way the little girl enjoys the taste of his delicious spicy food. She could so easily have rejected the strange flavours.
One tiny thing seemed odd to me, though. The two children selected special objects from his wagon – a hair comb and penknife – but we are not told that they were able to buy these treasures and yet we know they were expecting to see them. This might make a good discussion topic with your class - focusing on needs versus wants and also thinking about the use of money by the family which is no doubt quite scarce in their remote location. Here are a set of teaching notes to use with Star of Anise.
It is good to see the inclusion of back matter which is easy to read and yet comprehensive enough to satisfy reader curiosity. This book is published by The National Library of Australia and there is a list of illustration credits included for further exploration. For example here is a photo of a Travelling Tinkers cart and here is a travelling draper.
The style of illustrations is very appealing especially the decorative flowers and leaves which adorn each page. Teachers will want to acquire some star anise to share with their students when they read this book and I hope they celebrate the heritage of students in their classes with the surnames listed in the book notes. It is also good to see the inclusion of Punjabi words. At first glance the end papers seem quite plain but on closer examination this appears to be a fabric pattern.
Who are the Sikhs? Sikhs are an ethno-religious community founded over five hundred years ago by Guru Nanak, the first of the ten Sikh gurus, in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. Sikhs have lived in Australia in small numbers since the 1830s. ... Sikhs are perhaps most recognisable by our turbans. Turbans 4 Australia
I really appreciate the work Jane Jolly does to bring aspects of Australian history to life through her picture books. A few years ago I shared her book Glass Tears with a group of Grade Six students. I had no idea about the events which happened on a remote coast line in South Australia.
Here are a few things I discovered about Glass Tears:
- The inspiration for Glass Tears came from a lonely grave on the cliff tops at Stenhouse Bay in South Australia that Jane Jolly first saw when she was on a camping trip many years ago.
- When Jane first read the story and saw the grave, it made her shiver. She could imagine the family of this young man who were so far away hearing of his death and making the bead bouquet for him. This was the starting point for her story. You can see the grave stone here.
You might also try to find Ah Kee and the Glass Bottle illustrated by Di Wu. (This would be a wonderful book to share in 2022 which is The International Year of Glass).
If your school has a subscription to The Story Box library I recommend you take a look at these two books by Jane Jolly:
No comments:
Post a Comment