One Day - a first dictionary by Ann James

 One day I woke up. 
I got dressed.

I ate my breakfast.

I played outside.

Accompanying each of these simple sentences we follow a child through their day - ending with I read a story and I went to bed. On one side of the page we see the family and the activity and on the other are two frames with two letters and four images that can be found in the scene. For example - I ate my breakfast we see an egg in an egg cup, a fruit bowl from their table and two drawings that can be found on the 'fridge. This would be a perfect book to share with a very young child and it is you could revisit often. There is a very special warmth to each of the family scenes and mum and dad have simply perfect expressions which really interpret each event. IF you can find this book from 1989 look at the page where the goat is eating mum's hat and mum's eyes when she is trying to dress the little child early in the morning. The realistic domestic scenes in One Day reminded me of Sunshine by Jan Ormerod. 

I was thrilled to visit Dromkeen last week and even better I was able to purchase an original illustration by Ann James.  I already own a limited edition print of an illustration from It's a Miroocool. Ann James, Mark Wilson, Leigh Hoobs and Gabrielle Wang have works included in an exhibition at Dromkeen.

Along with art to purchase at this exhibition they also had lots of books to buy and so that is where I picked up One Day - a first dictionary which was published, as I said, in 1989 and so I assume is long out of print.

The piece I purchased comes from this book - it is an image intended for the back cover.

Read a review

I do hope the State Library of Victoria have a plan to showcase the original Dromkeen collection which was gifted to the library. It contains 7500 original art works collected by Joyce and Court Oldmeadow. 

In 1973, Dromkeen was purchased by Joyce and Court Oldmeadow, who used the homestead as a private residence and storage centre for their educational bookshop. Before long their love and interest in children’s literature led to the establishment of the Dromkeen Collection, and the house became a home for Australian children’s literature. The Oldmeadows dedicated their lives to preserving the original artwork and manuscripts of Australian children’s literature for public display. Following Court’s death in 1977, Scholastic Australia took over responsibility for maintaining the Collection. Joyce Oldmeadow continued to develop Dromkeen and in 1982, she inaugurated the Dromkeen Medal, awarded annually to an Australian citizen whose work has significantly contributed to the appreciation and development of children's literature. To guarantee a permanent home for the Collection, Scholastic Australia purchased the homestead in 1985. In 2012, the Dromkeen Foundation and Scholastic Australia gifted the entire Dromkeen Collection, along with the Dromkeen archive, to State Library Victoria.