No it's okay I have not lost my "blogging" mind (even though I do currently have Covid). I realise it is not Christmas but this is a new picture book published in 2021 and it is on the CBCA 2022 Picture Book of the Year Notable list.
This is a nostalgic, heart-warming and quintessentially Australian Christmas story by two masters of the picture book genre. I love the way the little boy is so insistent about the ingredients essential for every Christmas celebration and the way these things (pudding, presents, and a tree) are all there on Christmas day.
It is a strength of this writing that I was so invested emotionally that I just sighed with happiness when all everything came together for Joey. He has unwavering faith and infectious optimism about the magic of Christmas. So many of Australian Christmas stories take a rather “ocker” approach – this one is so much better. Bruce Whatley gives the reader lovely contrasts between the pages from the cool night air to the blistering heat of outback Australia.
Jackie French shares a tiny slice of Australian rural life from the past with her readers. She is such a master wordsmith:
"It was a dusty journey down the drought-bare road verges that Christmas Eve to find water for the cattle."
"Sunrise was a pale pink garland when Joey shook Ellie awake."
"The old man's shirt was frayed. He looked as if he had forgotten how to smile."
"The land was gold, not brown, as Ellie and Joey, and Blossom and Brownie climbed out of the gully. Diamonds glittered from the cobwebs on the barbed wire."
Hopefully this book will lead to a class discussion about the events of 1932 and why this family are droving the long paddock (city kids will need to discover what this means). The time frame of this story is just over two days and yet so much happens for Joey and Ellie and more importantly for old Mr Darcy. And so much is unsaid in the text but implied by the illustrations and tone - I love this layering in the story.
The sunshine and summer feel of the cover is very appealing but I wonder if Jackie French or Bruce Whatley discussed any other possibilities - my favourite image is the one used on the title page and later on the third double spread which shows a pair of mismatch old socks hanging on a wire fence beside a dusty paddock - I wonder if this might have been considered for the cover?
When you explore this book with a group of older students you could perhaps compare Bruce Whatley's illustrations with the work of other artists:
Jackie French and Bruce Whately have collaborated on many previous picture books:
If you need a Christmas gift perhaps to send to children living overseas I would like to suggest you should put this title at the top of your shopping list. This book would be a terrific Australian ambassador. It explores rural life in Australia, Christmas in the Summer, our dusty landscape, the way European Christmas customs were/are followed especially in the past, and the joyful surprises that can come on Christmas Day. Christmas does indeed always come!
Read more about this book:
Paperbark Words - Joy Lawn shares the plot and some of the illustrations
Here are a few other special Australian Christmas stories with similar themes:
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