Into the Bewilderness by Gus Gordon

"Maybe we're missing out on something here in the woods? What if there's something else out there? Beyond the trees. Beyond the horizon, where the sun goes down into the ground for the night and the moon is released from the big box in the sky."

"One cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore."

Don't you just love that word in the title - Bewiderness - your young reading companion might anticipate that the two characters on the cover are bewildered and that they are either IN or travelling TO the wilderness.

Blurb from author webpage: In the Bewilderness, life is good. Best friends Luis (the large furry one) and Pablo (the small furry one) spend their days wandering through nature, playing songs on the guitar, and eating Slow Joe McNally’s pinecone porridge with their neighbors. When dreamer Luis receives an unexpected invitation to attend a performance of The Weary Mermaid in the big, bustling city, he finds it hard to ignore the allure of the bright lights. Luckily, he doesn’t have to go it alone—and it’s a good thing, because it’s a long journey through the Bewilderness, and Luis has many questions. Will they meet laser-eyed gargoyles, zombie chickens, or tyrannical cow rulers? Will they get there on time? Why is quicksand so slow if it’s called quicksand? Thankfully, with his grumpy but loyal best friend by his side, they’ll soon find out. ... Or will they?

This is a story of two unlikely friends - a bear and a mole. It is a 'grass is greener' story and it is also a tale of true friendship. If you are sharing this book with a young group of students, you could perhaps also look at some versions of Town Mouse and Country Mouse. As is often the way with unlikely friends stories this pair have contrasting personalities. Pablo is slightly cynical and verbose while Luis is naïve about the world especially the world beyond their woods. In another way this story also has deeper themes about our need for cultural experiences, rich lives and perhaps even deeper - it could be about the meaning of life itself - but maybe I am getting too carried away. 

Gus Gordon has included such a rich vocabulary in this book - mostly spoken by Pablo. 

sophistication backwater; behemoth; wayward; disoriented; rabid; ravenous winged creatures; repressed society; wanderlust; preordained; elegant chaos; immeasurable; and manifestation of intellectual achievement. So, this graphic novel and the tone of the humour will suit readers aged 9 or 10+.

It is fun the way the pair of friends 'rib' each other with their ascribed nicknames of Furball and Turnip. I also enjoyed the wordless pages - a chance to slow down and just see their world.

"Well Furball, we're off to see what the Big City has to offer. Will it be a vast wealth of culture and energy or a bottomless pit of despair?' 'There could be pretty lights ...!' 'That hide a broken-down society crippled by expectations of grandeur."

The Kirkus review of Into the Bewilderness is so insightful. The reviewer likens Pablo and Luis to Laurel and Hardy and I learned a new word for their friend Ray who is perhaps a yeti or a bigfoot. Kirkus use the word cryptid. Cryptid: an animal (such as Sasquatch or the Loch Ness Monster) that has been claimed to exist but never proven to exist.

Appealing, colorful artwork complements the philosophical, character-driven plot, including stunning two-page spreads that showcase the wonder of the woods and a sparkling night sky. With gentle humor, the author explores themes of curiosity, friendship, and the value of different perspectives. School Library Journal

This is a delightful and wacky graphic novel that will have adventurous spirits of all ages smiling as they follow this charming pair. The book doesn’t talk down to readers, containing impressive vocabulary and concepts that work on a number of levels. It’s a gorgeous little hardback and an absolute joy for ages 9+. Readings Melbourne

Gordon writes with wit, warmth, and compassion. He shares small but important insights into humanity, whilst also exploring more philosophical themes such as understanding our place in time and space, explaining the elegant chaos of the universe or unpacking the meaning of culture, all of which are handled deftly with humour. Reading Time

Here is the US cover with some tiny changes - I wonder why? The endorsement is from Sergio Ruzza - I do love his books (see them at the bottom of this post).

I read Into the Bewilderness in one huge gulp. It took me just over an hour to devour the 180 pages. I laughed and I gasped - there are two gasp-worthy scenes in this story. Gus Gordon is the author and illustrator of over 80 books, and he should be very proud of his first graphic novel which I know took many hours to create. You can see his work in progress on Instagram.

One of my favourite moments is when Pablo and Luis arrive in the Big City. They are hungry. Luis would like a tuna fish sandwich and Pablo would like some pecan pie. Turn the page and we see them standing outside a business named Tuna Fish Sandwich and Pecan Pie Restaurant - perfect!

You can see inside Into the Bewilderness here. 

Joy Lawn interviewed Gus Gordon and asked him about his book - here are a few quotes by Gus from her blog Paperbark Words:

This bear and mole deserved a larger story. So, I decided to sit down and write one chapter, and see where it led me. I did a lot of research, looking at other graphic novels, from here and abroad. I really hadn’t looked at many before, but I must admit that it felt familiar, in a sense, and once I began to flesh out the story, things kind of fell into place.

The wonderful thing about the graphic novel format is that it’s incredibly versatile. As long as the story is progressing, it doesn’t matter how you tell it visually. It embraces almost all the elements of storytelling. Much like a picture book, you can use the page space to breathe, and slow the pace down, not a single panel in sight. Perhaps a bird slowly making its way down over the forest below for pages and pages. Or, conversely, you can use multiple vignettes to speed the story up.

Home is always a powerful notion in stories, and it features heavily in Into the Bewilderness, as I mentioned earlier. A familiar theme that has been pointed out to me from readers, as a recurring feature of my stories over the years, is the theme of loneliness. That in the end we are alone in this world, and despite the undeniable importance of family and friends, it’s up to us to make the most of our short lives. 

When the pair of friends travel to the city to see a show I thought of this wonderful book:

And the expression of true friendship and an adventure in a big city (Gus says he was thinking of Detroit but I thought of New York) reminded me of this special book also by Gus Gordon:

Herman and Rosie

These are books by Sergio Ruzzier - he did the endorsement on the US cover of Into the Bewilderness.

Read more here.

Barnaby Unboxed! by The Fan Brothers

We all wanted Barnaby to go on a hero’s journey: facing disillusionment, obstacles, and various ordeals, but in the end coming back to his home, 

transformed for the better by his experiences. Fan Brothers

Barnaby is half mouse, half elephant with a dash of flamingo. He has been living in a box on the shelf of a toy shop. His box says he is a perfect pet and fully trained. There are so many perfect pet boxes to choose from. It seems no one is noticing that he is perfect until one day a young girl arrives. Barnaby becomes her very special friend. They do everything together. Best of all they enjoy watching the television series 'Barnaby and Friends'. Sadly though, it is this show that leads to a devastating change. The Perfect Pet company release a new Rainbow Barnaby. 

"The next day, the little girl asked her father if she could have a Rainbow Barnaby."

"The answer was no. Barnaby felt a wave of relief wash over him. But after that, the girl no longer played with him quite as often as she used to ..."

Do you recognise this plot idea - I love you Blue Kangaroo; Ducky's Nest; Arnold, the Prickly Teddy; The Sea Saw; and Finding Monkey Moon.

The little girl no longer takes Barnaby for walks. And one day her father fails to notice that Barnaby is left behind. It is raining and dark and Barnaby is lost. Will he ever find his way back home? And after weeks outside in the rain and dirt will the little girl even recognise him? Is there someone who can help him? 

I have read this book many, many times and the warm happy ending still makes me so emotional. 

Joy, despair, reunion, community—delightfully, all here. Kirkus

Barnaby Unboxed is a simple story, with universal themes, and it is told beautifully. The possibility of interesting and important conversations about exploitation would be a bonus. Just Imagine

There are some valuable themes of found family, what home means, self-worth and finding (and appreciating) what we have. It's a profound little book, and told in age appropriate language, all accompanied by luminous impressionist inspired artwork throughout. Nonstop Reader

It will be exciting to show this book to a group of Teacher-Librarians at a conference next month. The case reveal (pulling off the dust jacket to reveal the image underneath) is a spectacular surprise. And then I can show the brilliant end papers. (You can see these parts of this book here). School libraries here in Australia have very limited budgets but these two books should be added to every collection - yes they are that special! See inside Barnaby Unboxed here. Check out all the books by The Fan Brothers - I have talked about nearly all of them here on this blog. Here is a generous interview between The Fan Brothers and Betsy Bird. 

I previously talked about The Barnabas Project which is the companion volume to Barnaby Unboxed. 

The Barnabus Project

Barnaby Unboxed might make you think of Toy Story. Older readers should look for this middle grade series:

They threw us away

And this powerful book too:

Ollie's Odyssey

A Lemon for Safiya by Jemima Shafei-Ongu illustrated by Nisaluk Chantanakom

"It was Safiya who first spotted the old woman, sitting on the edge of the footpath, sock-sandalled feet in the gutter, busy cars speeding past."

The woman is sitting alone. She is holding a 'bright yellow lemon' in the palm of her hand. When the family ask where she lives it is clear the lady is describing somewhere from her past. The woman talks about her daughter who is named Hanna - this means happiness in Arabic. Luckily the old lady is wearing a bracelet with her name - Maryam. It is such a sweet moment when the child reaches across the car seat to hold the old lady's hand and that is when she sees the bracelet. 

Bookseller blurb: They reached a giant lemon tree. The old woman sat up, tapping an urgent finger against the window. 'Hay! Hay! Hanna zarr'et ha. Hay!' 'She's saying that Hanna planted this tree,' Mama said as Dad pulled over. 'It's a beautiful tree, shajrah hhelweh,' Mama said to the old woman.

 When a little girl, Safiya, and her family help Maryam, a lost and confused stranger by the side of the road, to find her way home, they begin to understand who she is and the rich and remarkable life she has lived. Through kind-natured Safiya, we come to see Maryam, a woman who had been made invisible by society because of her ethnicity, race, religion, language, age and now dementia. With Arabic text interspersed throughout, A Lemon for Safiya is a wonderful exploration of language, diversity and culture.

Listening to an author, or in this case illustrator, talk about the inspiration for their book can make a big difference to how you perceive a text.  This book will be published in early June 2025 but yesterday I attended a conference at our New South Wales State Library and for one of the sessions four authors were invited to speak for five minutes about their new or first book. 

Nisaluk Chantanakom has added delicate art to this story and the memories of the old lady appear in sepia behind each illustration so that even if you don't speak Arabic it is easy to anticipate what the lady is saying. The words are translated too and there is a full glossary at the back of the book. Nisaluk is originally from Thailand but now lives in Sydney.  She was shortlisted for the CBCA New Illustrator with her book A Teaspoon of Light.

About this book she says: I tried to imagine Maryam standing beneath a lemon tree, her mind filled with vivid memories she can’t forget, while she struggles to recall the reality of the present. During this time, an elderly Greek woman with dementia often wandered into our backyard and asked for lemons. She seemed to remember we had a lemon tree, but not that the lemons weren’t yet ripe. I drew inspiration from her postures, expressions and manner for my illustrations of Maryam. Seeing my neighbour’s confusion helped me in my approach to illustrating Maryam’s memories. I chose to depict them as fragmented, using sketchy, childlike crayon marks. Some of these marks are tiny scribbles that I then scanned and enlarged, adding to their raw quality. I felt it was important to have different styles for the present and Maryam’s past. The present is depicted with a full colour palette and a very detailed style. For Maryam’s memories, I combined fine pencil work with scribbled crayon textures and rough 

watercolours patches. (from the teachers notes for A lemon for Safiya)

Jemima Shafei-Ongu is the author of three books. Jemima said (also in the teachers notes): 

A Lemon for Safiya was inspired by true events that happened when my family and I were living in Melbourne around 2006. We found a lost and confused old woman by the side of the road, with not too dissimilar circumstances to Maryam in this story. I have also worked with many children in schools who felt sad and confused when someone they loved, like a grandparent, became impacted by dementia. I also love lemons, and along with olives, they play a special role in my culture (I am of the Levant), and they have a special place in my heart. Nature has a way to teach us about life, about patience, about respect for life and about trust in its process. Lemons, like much of nature, have a life cycle that we can be trustees of and agents to.

The publisher and my conference companion suggest this book could be read alongside Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge. I am not entirely convinced about this but that famous book is a good one to use if you are talking about memories or in fact it is just a very special book to read at any time. 

A better companion book might be this one:

If all the world were ...

And if you are talking about cultural identity and memory you might look for this one:

Where to Hide a Star by Oliver Jeffers

"Once there was a boy ... and together with his two friends ... he would often play hide-and-seek."

Boy does the counting because, well he is the only one of the trio who can actually count! It is clear early on that star is not very good at hiding and penguin always hides in the same place but nevertheless the three friends enjoy the routines of their game. Until ...  

Somehow (your young reading companion will see how this happened but the boy doesn't know) star is left behind and because he has been placed in a small rowing boat it is clear he will be more than just lost he will be washed far away. The scene where we see this happening is filled with drama and terror. 

Penguin and boy search high and low but star is nowhere to be found. The boy knows they need extra help, so he calls on his friend the Martian. Will they be able to find star? Where has he gone? Oh, and there is another problem - the girl who finds him would like to keep him as her friend too? How can this dilemma be resolved so everyone is happy? The second last illustration in this book is one to linger over. 

Now go back and find the first book where we meet star:

Reading Where to Hide a Star you are, I'm sure, going to think of the other book by Oliver Jeffers - Lost and Found which is where we meet Penguin.

Then I made this discovery. I have not read or seen the last two books mentioned here: HarperCollins Children’s Books published Jeffers’ debut, How to Catch a Star, in 2004 after it was discovered in a pile of unsolicited manuscripts. It was the first in a series of bestselling books featuring the boy and the penguin, including Lost and Found (2005), The Way Back Hom (2007) and Up and Down (2010).

There is a quality of a truly special picture book that comes when you think you know exactly where a story is going (and perhaps you are right) but the journey to arrive at that all important poignant and emotionally satisfying happy ending contains a surprise or two. I think it is essential for every school library to have all of these books and what a wonderful reading experience this would be for a class of young children to read one each day! And at the end of this fifth book I am sure you will agree there is room for another story. Certainly you will want to talk about what might happen next? Surely the boy will meet his new friend - a young Inuit girl - again. 

"I could barely remember how to paint the boy and the penguin, but once my watercolours were dusted off for first time since the last time these characters were painted, the colour combinations, techniques and brushstrokes all came back to me like a forgotten part of myself. It felt like a reunion with long lost family. Then to be able to continue the momentum of this old familiar world into new territory felt exciting enough to remind me of the time I made How to Catch A Star 20 years ago, and hopefully a whole new generation of kids will share that excitement", said Jeffers. 

Like Jeffers’ other boy-related tales, this one is distinguished by its tone; the author/illustrator excels at cultivating a rose-hued melancholy sweetness that will linger long after the book is closed. The palette of the textured watercolors changes according to location and emotion, with the firmament above appearing in a striking final black-and-white culmination. A gratifying story of loving and letting go. Kirkus

You can hear the author Oliver Jeffers (who was born in Australian but lives in Ireland) reading a tiny sample of his book here. 

You could explore a mini theme of books about the game of hide and seek. This is a fabulous choice because it is such a universal game and also it is a game that very tiny children play in the simplest way by hiding their eyes or seeing an adult carer hide their eyes to play peek-a-boo!

The Best Hiding Place

Molly, Olive and Dexter

The Snow Lion

Fish and Sun

The Truck Cat by Deborah Frenkel illustrated by Danny Snell

Yacoub lives in his truck. He drives huge distances carrying many different things. English is not his first language, and he sometimes finds it difficult to talk to the other truck drivers he meets along the way but luckily Yacoub has his little cat named Tinka. Tinka keeps Yacoub company on long journeys and under the stars at night. But then one day Tinka is distracted by a fluttering butterfly, and he accidentally leaves Yacoub behind. Luckily Tinka is rescued by a kind young woman named Mari. Tinka is happy living in htis new place and he enjoys her bakery and the fresh fish she feeds him but he is also worried about his friend. Will Tinka and Yacoub ever be reunited?

Here is the web site for Deborah Frenkel. I previously talked about this book:

Naturoplois

Here is an interview with Justkidslit where Deborah Frenkel talks about The Truck Cat.

Here is the web site for Danny Snell. 

Blurb from the teachers notes (via Pegi Williams): Tinka is a truck cat, travelling the open roads of Australia with Yacoub in his truck. Yacoub doesn’t know many other people, but he and Tinka always have each other. Until one day, Tinka gets distracted chasing a white butterfly and ends up on a busy main road, with cars and trucks separating him from Yacoub. Luckily, Tinka is saved by a kind-hearted baker, Mari, who takes him into her home and her life and feeds him. But Tinka always worries about Yacoub, out there in the silence. Yacoub worries about Tinka too, missing the companionship of his friend … until one day, a smell draws him to the window of a bakery, where a familiar face waits for him.

By chance I borrowed The Truck Cat from the library this week and then today I saw it was announced as the 2025 National Simultaneous Storytime book which is on May 22nd, 2025 at 12:00pm AEST

About National Simultaneous Storytime: by facilitating NSS we aim to: 

• promote the value of reading and literacy, 
• promote the value and fun of books,
• promote an Australian writer and publisher, 
• celebrate and promote storytime activities in public libraries, school libraries, classrooms and communities around the country,
• and provide opportunities to involve parents, caregivers, the media, and others to participate in and enjoy the occasion.

What do we look for in the National Simultaneous Storytime book?

Each year interested publishers send in possible titles. From a practical perspective, the publisher has to be able and willing to provide copyright release for use of the illustrations, book projection, translation into other languages and performance. The publisher also needs to commit to a special print run of several thousand copies. This narrows down the options. The criteria for choosing from the remaining books include: 

• a positive storyline
• appeal to a modern and diverse audience
• suitability for read-aloud (language and length)
• how well the book lends itself to craft and other activities

I was very interested to read the criteria because I had (wrongly) assumed that since (in the past) Scholastic Australia were sponsors of this event the book had to be a Scholastic Australia publication. I am pleased to see I was wrong. The book this year comes from Bright Light which an imprint of Hardie Grant Children's Publishing.

Things to talk about and discuss after reading The Truck Cat:

How do you know the setting for this story is in Australia?

Do you think Yacoub has always been a truck driver? What does it mean 'to make a living'? 

How do you know Yacoub has not always lived in Australia? 

Why is Yacoub thinking about 'the old country'? What does this phrase mean?

Think about the sentence "Until cool hands lifted him from the road, held him gently, and carried him to a car." How does the meaning of this change if you alter the words 'cool' and 'gently'. What emotions do you feel when Mari rescues Tinka.

Tinka cannot tell Mari that he is worried about Yacoub but what might he say if he could talk?

When do we get the first hint that there might be a cultural connection between Mari and Yacoub?

How does Deborah Frenkel give her story a perfect sense of completion? 

The final pages show changes to the lives of Mari and Yacoub - what has happened? Talk about the way Danny Snell has extended the text well beyond the words of the story. How has 'home' now changed for Yacoub?

Discuss the vocab from the book - interloper, mewing, lunged, daintiest, depots, tri-axle, rafters

Older students - read the end notes from the author and research refugees from WWII who settled in Australia. Find other picture books about the modern refugee experience. Here is my Pinterest with some books that are sure to be in your school library. 

Research Polish cakes and biscuits. Check if your family have favourite recipes from other cultures.

Yacoub calls his grandmother Nena. What do you call your grandparents?

Book design - note the changes to the end papers; the consistent colour palette used in the water colour illustrations; the use of framing as a way to sequence the plot.

How does Danny Snell show movement of Tinka and also of the traffic in his illustrations?

A similar thing happens on the page where the truck is carrying eggs - how do we know the truck is moving slowly so the eggs don't get scrambled?

Narrative devices - repeated structures - some cats are house cats, some are apartment cats, some cats live on farms, some live this the city. AND at the end sometimes he's a bakery cat, sometimes a sofa cat; sometimes he's a picnic cat and sometimes a train cat.

What device is Deborah Frenkel using with these phrases - brick motels with beetles in the bathtub; rest-stop huts with rats in the rafters; depots dancing with dragonflies; lorikeets landed in the lemon tree; pigeons pecked in the petunias.

You could make a library display of past NSS titles and even have a mini readathon in your classroom exploring all of these terrific Australian Picture Books.

If you can't read all of these try to find Arthur by Amanda Graham; Edward the Emu by Sheena Knowles; The Wrong book by Nick Bland; Too many elephants in this house by Ursula Dubosarsky; and Mrs Wilkinson's Chooks by Leona Peguero. 

Lost and Found Picture Book list

Lost and Found

A few days someone posed this question in a Facebook group:

Can anyone think of children's story books with a lost/found theme?

An easy question to answer - there are so many picture books on this theme although I did make a few assumptions that they wanted picture books and that this was for a young child or a Kindergarten classroom mini theme. I also wondered why this person who I think is probably a teacher, didn't ask their school Teacher-Librarian but perhaps sadly their school does not have a library professional or even a school library. 

Here are a few that were mentioned on the thread many of which I have mentioned previously on this blog. Over the coming days I will create a Pinterest of books that match this theme - if you have any more to suggest please add them to the comments. 

Felix and Alexander

Finding Monkey Moon

The Best hiding place

Red Ted and the lost things

Jigsaw A Puzzle in the post

Finding You

Eight

Knuffle Bunny

The lost property office

Ducky's Nest

The Sea Saw

Golden Threads

Curduroy and A Pocket for Curduroy

Hannah and Sugar

Mutt Dog

You could also look for other Bob Graham books such as Queenie the Bantam