Today is ANZAC DAY here in Australia. I do hope teachers try to read an ANZAC book with their students when school returns tomorrow. This Old Thing is very new and it is a perfect book to share with your younger students. Here is my Pinterest with other titles.
Begin with the cover where you can see a young boy looking through an old suitcase - many of the objects scattered on the floor of the garage will be explored in the story. The khaki green immediately shows this suitcase contains items that once belonged to a solider.
Turn to the start of the story and we see a school notice asking the students to bring something old for ANZAC day. Turning each page we see the boy selecting objects from the suitcase such as a newspaper, slouch hat, tin cup, playing cards, a photo and a gas mask. On the facing page each of these objects is depicted in a scene from World War I - things used by the owner of the suitcase - his great-great-granddad.
The different end papers in this book are brilliant – filled with objects from the suitcase. (And very sadly you won't see these on the online version of this book from Storybox Library so I want to say please find the book and don't rely on the video presentation) These curious things are sure to elicit lots of very meaningful discussions with readers. The book design of the modern child on one page and the memory/scene of the war experience of his great-great grandfather on the other works so well and then Tony Flowers skilfully breaks this pattern and he puts the one scene above the other and finally merges them together in the final scene. Also at times the great-great grandad's story encroaches across the central ditch of the book which asks the reader to interpret how the generations are linked.
Each object is linked in an interesting, and historically accurate way with its function in the war but there is nothing too confronting or violent here for younger readers. The repeated refrain will work well to hold their attention. Tony Flowers perfectly interprets the spare text. Every illustration, especially those of the war, contains a wealth of unspoken stories. I love the way the boy has his dog and so does the young soldier. The faded image of the solider standing behind and gazing down at the young boy is a poignant moment of connection between the past and the present.
Taking a close look at the boy's face we see the boy almost joking around with some of the objects (like the gas mask) and then the reality of what this object meant for the soldier. It’s also interesting how the boy’s facial expressions change as he becomes more aware of the significance of each object and the enormous sense of pride and recognition he experiences at the end. This is a wonderful book to explore that notion of memorial with young readers – how meaningful objects and stories of the past are and how they can help us understand history and the challenges our ancestors faced.
This Old Thing is that rare story: a tender tale that is neither sentimental nor cliched. It offers the reader something new with its double perspective; in the written and design/illustrative text. The child portrayed is an 'everychild' character and the accompanying author and illustrator notes deepen our understanding of the story and the literary approaches taken. The textured hard cover with the shiny texture of the title, boy, dog, chest and war objects are a wonderful prelude to the story.
It is clear a huge amount of research has gone into the war scenes in this book but they have been created so carefully with an awareness the emotional maturity of the intended audience. At the same time this is a book that should be used with older students as a perfect way to discuss primary sources. I found a very comprehensive set of teaching notes from Tony Flowers where he describes his work at the War Memorial sourcing materials for this book. Read more about this book on the blog Reading Opens Doors.
I would pair this book with these:
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