The Mozart Question by Michael Morpurgo illustrated by Michael Foreman

This is one of those very powerful shorter books that would be perfect for your reluctant readers in Grade 6 or 7. The reporter is told not to ask 'The Mozart Question'.  Why? Paulo decides to tell his story of survival during the holocaust. This is not a book for young readers. Concentration camps and gas chambers are mentioned. Make sure you take a close look at the cover.

Michael Foreman adds his usual fabulous water colour art to this book:

Sadly, this book from 2007 is out of print but I am sure it will be easy to find a in many libraries.

... it is Paulo himself who decides that the time has come for the truth to be told. And so follows the story of his parents in a concentration camp, forced to play Mozart violin concertos for the enemy; how they watched fellow Jews being led off to death and knew that as long as  they were played  they themselves would live. (read about the stage play of this book)

In this stunningly written and very moving book Michael Morpurgo pays tribute to the Jewish musicians who played musical instruments during their captivity in German concentration camps. Their skill kept them alive, and they played to survived. Morpurgo also explores the idea that secrets are often no better than lies. There comes a time when the truth must be told and only then can healing begin. Through the Looking Glass review

You can read background notes from Michael Morpurgo here. 

Publisher blurb: When Lesley is sent to Venice to interview world-renowned violinist Paulo Levi on his fiftieth birthday, she cannot believe her luck. She is told that she can ask him anything at all – except the Mozart question. But it is Paulo himself who decides that the time has come for the truth to be told. And so follows the story of his parents in a Jewish concentration camp, forced to play Mozart violin concerti for the enemy; how they watched fellow Jews being led off to their deaths and knew that they were playing for their lives. As the story unfolds, the journalist begins to understand the full horror of war – and how one group of musicians survived using the only weapon they had.

This book caught my eye at a recent charity book sale because I recognised the format. I previously read (and enjoyed) these books - the series doesn't seem to have an official name but they are published by Walker Books UK.

This Morning I met a Whale

Captain Rosalie

A Swallow in Winter

I Believe in Unicorns

The Kites are Flying

Muttonfish Magic by Aunty Ruth Simms, Lucy Robertson and Jasmine Seymour

"These are true stories from my lived memory in my mother's language, as well as the memories of my sisters and brothers ... They are stories from a different time, and from a place significant to all Australians." Aunty Ruth Simms

Publisher blurb: Aunty Ruth remembers going with her mother and brothers on a day out to the cove near their home, to learn traditional fishing and abalone hunting and cooking methods. After a day on the rocks watching mum work her magic, they return home with a feed for their family.

There are two text lines in this book that really resonated with me:

"We filled our pram with just enough muttonfish for a family meal ... "

This is the essence of sustainability surely. They only took what the family needed.

"No plaque marks our fishing spot or spills our secrets. We remember."

These simple words are a powerful way to talk to the children in your family and library about the importance of shared stories, shared culture, wisdom of the elders, and community memories. 

This book should be an essential addition to your school library.

Dharug woman and Prime Minister’s Literary Award winner Jasmine Seymour accentuates the family’s bond through illustrations that radiate warmth and connection. Her expressive depictions of family interactions, combined with luminous land and waterscapes and meticulous renderings of local flora, deepen the book’s sense of place and belonging. Primary school-aged readers familiar with Seymour’s Open Your Heart to Country and Lisa Kennedy’s books will appreciate Muttonfish Magic. It is an impressive picture book that should receive critical acclaim and wide educational use. Joy Lawn Books and Publishing

Thanks to Magabala Books for my advance copy of Muttonfish Magic which will be published this week.

When you share this book in your library, please talk about Aunty Ruth Simms and explain that this story comes from her lived experience. You could find a map of the La Perouse area and talk about the way the kids and their mother walked across a golf course. You will also need to look at pictures of muttonfish (abalone) and muckendy (rock cod). Other names for abalone are: Sea Ears, Ear Shells, Muttons Shells, Muttonfish, Pāua, and Ormer. Here is a video from the ABC you could share with your older students. 

Muttonfish (abalone)

Read more about Red Rock Cod here

You might compare this photo with the wonderful illustration by Jasmine Seymour

Better Read Kids are hosting an event for this book on 21st February 2026.

It would be good to also read Going Fishing with Nana. I would also share Going for Pippies and Three Dresses. 

Aunty Ruth Simms was born on The Reserve in La Perouse in 1941 as one of nine children. She grew up with a strong connection to both Larpa and Jerrinja cultures. From a young age she learnt about traditional bush foods, language and medicines and went to sleep on ‘goonjarn’ stories (ancient spirit stories). Today, Ruth lives in Nowra with her daughter Trudy and works as an Aboriginal Education Officer (AEO) in local primary schools. She has a Diploma of Education and is passionate about embedding Indigenous perspectives into the curriculum. She is currently the longest serving AEO at the NSW Department of Education and remains a strong advocate for her people. In 2012, Aunty Ruth was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for her contributions to education.

Lucy Robertson is a primary school Teacher Librarian and has always been passionate about good stories. She grew up on a vineyard and winery in Mudgee before studying journalism and creative writing, later completing an education degree after a move to the South Coast surfing village of Culburra Beach. When Lucy first started working with Aunty Ruth, she was struck by her beautiful stories of fishing, crabbing and shell work with her family in La Perouse and ‘The Dock’ in Orient Point, eventually convincing her to start writing them down for future generations.

Jasmine Seymour is a Dharug woman and descendant of Maria Lock, who was the daughter of Yarramundi, the Boorooberongal elder who had met Governor Phillip on the banks of the Hawkesbury River in 1791. Maria was the first Aboriginal woman to be educated by the Blacktown Native Institute. She was married to carpenter and convict, Robert Lock and their union resulted in thousands of descendants who can all trace their Dharug heritage back past Yarramundi. Jasmine is a member of the Dharug Custodian Aboriginal Corporation.

Baby Business

Here is an interview with Jasmine Seymour about this book

Anna May's Blue Cloak by Christiane Cicioli illustrated by Susan Pearson

When she was a young girl Anna May's Grandmother made her a beautiful blue cloak. The fabric on the cover makes it look so tactile - perhaps it is velvet. Anna May is young and so for now the cloak is a perfect fit over her dress. But over time Anna May grows.

"Soon the cloak, still beautiful, was too small. Her mother carefully folded it up and put it away in her wooden chest."

Years later Anna May became a mum to a baby girl. Anna May remembered the beautiful cloak. Now is the time for the cloak to be used for another garment. You can see her here using her grandmother's sewing machine - my own little Nan had one just like this.

Anna May uses the cloak fabric to make a dress for her daughter, but she also carefully puts the left-over pieces back into the wooden chest. Anna May's daughter loves her dress but over time it becomes too small. Many years later Anna May's daughter had a baby - a son. Luckily there was enough fabric left from the cloak to make him a handsome blue jacket. 

Have you worked out the pattern here. YES - and then Anna May's son becomes a father.

"Anna May wanted him to stay warm ... she remembered her blue cloak ... she took out the fabric that was left after making the dress and the jacket."

I wonder what she made? And what about the tiny fragments of fabric that are still left over?

I have a friend who is volunteering at one of our local charity shops. She mentioned the idea of following the journey of a piece of clothing could be a great idea for a picture book - she needs to see this book.

You could also use this book to talk about family relationships and the way we can show this using a family tree. If I was sharing this book with a class, I would bring in a collection of things made by my grandmother Amy - a set of beautiful doll clothes including silk pyjamas, casual shorts with a matching top, a lace dressing gown and brown corduroy trousers. 

Anna May's Cloak is a Canadian picture book. It was published in 2013 but it is still available. If you are reading this close to the time, I have penned this post I found one copy available from an online Australian book seller for a great price - but they only have one copy. 

Christiane Cicioli, born in Quebec, has lived both in Canada and the United States. One of the most enjoyable activities she has shared with her family and three now grown children has been to hear and recount the tales and customs of grandparents, great-grandparents, and other relatives of previous generations. Those inspirational moments have become the source of her writing. After working with children in elementary schools for many years, she is now a freelance writer and translator. Susan Pearson lives in Vancouver, BC, with her husband Ed. She creates images for children's books and teaches watercolor painting classes.

Companion books:

The Copper Tin Cup

My forever dress

The Copper Tin Cup by Carole Lexa Scharfer illustrated by Stan Fellows

"My name, my cup,' she said. And she was right. 

But she knew that the cup had not always been hers."

The initials SC are carved into the cup - SC for Sammy Carl; SC for Samantha Caroline; SC for Sam Charles; SC for Serena Carlotta; SC for Samuel and Carla - the original owners and makes of the precious cup. And look closely at the illustration on the final page because a new baby is coming. I wonder what name will be given to the next person to inherit the copper tin cup?

Blurb: Through a treasured heirloom, a family's history is revealed. The copper tin cup belongs to Sammy Carl. His initials are carved below the rim. But it was made many many years ago in a different country for his great-aunt, Serena Carlotta, and has been handed down from generation to generation ever since to children bearing the same initials. In the story of the copper tin cup is a family's history.

I was so lucky to find this book at the Lifeline book fair. It's a title I often recommend because it is perfect for history topics in Grade Two. 

There is so much you could do with this book in your class. Ask the children to find an old object in their house and ask about the back story. In my house I have an antique fire engine that belonged to my father and before that another relative back in about 1915.

Here is another book by Carole Lexa Schaefer:

The Last Apple Tree by Claudia Mills

“Each person’s life is filled with both smiles and tears; there’s no getting around that. If you choose to take the extra credit option, which I hope you do, maybe you can find a way to share this that will let us appreciate not only the information you collected but the feelings, too. 

History is about feelings as much as it is about facts.”

It’s a gift to know what questions to ask, and a bigger gift to know how to listen to the answers.

Sonnet has moved with her little sister Villanelle and their mother back to the family home to support her grandfather now that his wife of over fifty years has died. Her grandfather's home used to be an apple tree orchard but years ago the land was sold for a modern housing estate. A boy named Zeke lives in one of these new houses. 

These two kids do catch the same bus but beyond that they have no interest in each other until the teacher sets a family history assignment. The task is to interview an older family or community member and ask them about their life in the past. Zeke met Mr Granger after his wife died because he and his mum took over a casserole. Zeke does not really know any other older people so when the teacher sends around a sign-up page Zeke writes his name. This utterly infuriates Sonnet - why should this strange kid want to interview HER grandfather. He has no right to visit her family. But that is exactly what happens. Zeke is an outsider at this school because until this year he has been homeschooled by is overzealous 'tree hugger' father. Zeke is not allowed a pet, a phone, any computer technology and his family grow their own food and follow a vegan lifestyle. All Zeke wants to do is fit in - to be a normal kid.

Sonnet is the protector her family. Her little sister Villie has a crazy imagination - she is a delight. Sonnet works hard to keep her happy. Villie invents a new 'land' for the family every day. It is also important to Sonnet to keep her grandfather away from sad thoughts. He is desperately missing his precious wife and the smallest things seem to make him cry. And he is forgetting small things and can seem mixed up. When Zeke goes off script and asks too many personal and probing questions Sonnet is furious. 

The third voice is this book is an old apple tree - the last apple tree. These parts of the story and very short but worth lingering over as the old tree shares his wisdom based on past events in the lives of this family. 

The Old Apple Tree 

The little girl skips around the old tree in dizzying circles. 

The bigger girl gazes at the old tree with eyes hungry to see. 

The old man visits the old tree in silent communion. 

But the woman... the woman never comes.

I also need to make a special mention of the school Teacher Librarian Mrs. Petrocelli - she has a stash of small chocolate bars in her desk for tricky situations. I love that idea.

Here are a few text quotes:

He barely knew the old man or the old woman, though when he used to see them walking around the small town of Wakefield, arm in arm, he secretly imagined what it would be like if they were his grandparents. His own grandparents on his mother’s side were both dead, and his father had, in his words, “become estranged” from Zeke’s grandparents on that side long before Zeke was born.

Sonnet and her little sister had each been named after a different kind of poem. A sonnet has fourteen lines that often rhyme in a special pattern. Shakespeare wrote lots of sonnets. A villanelle was more complicated, and Sonnet wasn’t sure she could explain it; she just knew it repeated a lot of the same lines over and over again.

“Our next project is going to be on oral history,” Ms. Hanh said, “gathering and recording stories that might otherwise disappear. The stories in greatest danger are the stories of our older friends and relatives, ... because their time is running out. They are closer to the end of their lives, and some of their memories may be already fading.”

The day the bulldozers came and the apple trees were ripped up by the roots like so many weeds, I’m not ashamed to say I cried like a baby. There was just one row of trees spared on what was left of our property, and all but one of those came down with some kind of blight. But if you ask me, they died of broken hearts, and I don’t blame them.”

“Villie,” Sonnet said, picking up a forlorn-looking rabbit with limp, droopy ears and tucking it into the crook of Villie’s arm. “You and I have to try to make Gramps happy. Or at least happier. That’s the most important thing, for both of us. Can you help me do that?”

“So what was your question again? What did I want that I didn’t get? Let me tell you, it’s worse when you get it and then lose it. Lost a child, lost an orchard, lost a wife, and now all that’s left is that one tree, older even than I am now, and it’s on its way to dying, too. The last place on this earth where my little girl was still alive.”

I read this book on my Kindle. The hardcover copy is sadly way too expensive here in Australia but I hope this 2024 book might be available in paperback soon. The publisher site says in the US the paperback will be released in October 2025. This book has such an appealing cover. This is a gentle story about finding yourself, revealing family secrets, and also about the healing of family relationships. A mature and sensitve reader aged 10+ will enjoy The Last Apple Tree. Here is the web page from the author. Listen to a five minute audio sample here (note it uses two voices which is terrific). The sample begins on the first page of this book with a poem by the tree. 

A touching homage to the healing of old wounds and family relationships. Kirkus Star review

Each complex and well-meaning character suffers personal challenges and tragedies on their own, which leads to confusion, dishonesty, and further isolation. As tensions build, the characters are cornered into finally being true to one another, and they discover understanding, compassion, and release. Horn Book

I am very keen to read this verse novel by Claudia Mills.

Claudia Mills is also the author of this series which might be in your school or local library.

One Little Bag by Henry Cole

One Little Bag is a wordless book - these are sometimes referred to as textless books and IBBY call them Silent Books - but of course they are far from silent. This one for example contains a really complex and very satisfying story about the creation of a paper bag beginning with a tree in the forest and then moving from the factory to the grocery store. This is not the end, however, because this bag is used and reused over and over again and even becomes a part of the generational story of one family. 

"On the very first Earth Day my entire school celebrated. ... That day ... my lunch was packed in a small paper bag. On that first Earth Day, however, I did not throw my bag away after lunch. Instead, I folded in and slipped it back into my back pocket. ... The next day I used that same little bag to carry my lunch to school again. And the next day. And the next day. For three years. ... It looked a little weather beaten with all the stapes and scotch tape I used to keep it together. I figure that bag was used about seven hundred times."  Henry Cole

This book needs to be added to your school library BUT here in Australia it is way too expensive. This book was published in 2020 and while it is still available it now costs AUS$53+. Back in 2021 the library where I borrowed this book paid AUS$32.

Here is the blurb by Henry Cole: From a tall tree growing in the forest-- to the checkout counter at the grocery store-- one little bag finds its way into the hands of a young boy on the eve of his first day of school. And so begins an incredible journey of one little bag that is used and reused and reused again. In a three-generation family, the bag is transporter of objects and keeper of memories. And when Grandfather comes to the end of his life, the family finds a meaningful new way for the battered, but much-loved little bag to continue its journey in the circle of life.

In this video Colby Sharp talks about reading this book to his class. Take a look at the Kirkus Star review. Here is the webpage for Henry Cole. 

Cole beautifully shows how small acts of reusing something can become tradition in a family. The book never seems like a lecture, always just showing and demonstrating how reuse is possible and its great potential as well. The paper bag in the story if remarkably resilient for so much use by generations, but I think we all have items in our families that survive despite being used by everyone, to be handed to the next generation. Told in images only, the book is filled with fine-line drawings that shine with light. The paper bag is the only color on the page, its brown color becoming all the more warm and glowing and the red hearts popping with color. A truly great wordless picture book. Waking Brain Cells

I previously talked about Nesting by Henry Cole.

The Doll Box by Deborah Kelly illustrated by Joanna Bartel

Young Isla is afraid of the climbing frame at the park. 

"Her legs were too shaky. Her arms were too achy. She would never make it to the top."

Isla takes comfort at home by playing with an old small blue tin. Inside there are three dolls. Isla has played with them many times but today is the day her mother tells her the story of each one. Grand Great Grandma Sarah was so brave. She couldn't swim and had no idea what lay ahead but she got on a ship and sailed to a new country and a new life. Great Grandma Phyllis worked so hard during the war when all the men had gone away. She ran a farm and grew vegetables for the soldiers. And then there is her grandmother - Gaga. When she was a young woman girls did not go to university but she was so clever so after she finished school she did study engineering even though she was the only girl in the class.

Hearing these family stories gives Isla the courage to conquer the climbing frame and perhaps, I would like to think, knowing, albeit very briefly, these stories will also give the courage to try other difficult or scary things in the future. 

I wish this book had a timeline at the back or perhaps an expansion of the family tree that we anticipate from the cover. I do like the way the pages showing the grandmothers as younger women are presented in a sepia style. The end papers are filled with a sweet nostalgic pattern rather like old wall paper. 

If I was sharing this book with a group of young children I would bring along some of my own old dolls and use them to talk about my grandmother who raised four children on her own while living in the CBD of Sydney in Pitt Street as a building superintendent. I don't have any of her dolls and my own mum only had one doll which she had to share with her sister but I do have my doll and her beautiful set of hand stitched clothes made by my grandmother and I have the doll someone important and rich gave my mum when I was born - she is a walking doll called Rosemary. This is not her photo but she is similar:

You might be thinking this is a book that will appeal more to girls. Again if I was sharing this book with a group of children in my library I would also take along my antique toy fire engine - it belonged to a relative of my father, then my father, then my older cousin (a boy) and then finally it came to me! Talking about this toy links perfectly with a discussion about the 1930s depression here in Australia. 

Image source: Buddy L museum

There are also lots of picture books which use quilts as a way to talk about family history. 

Publisher blurb: Whenever Isla’s mother brings out her small blue doll box, Isla knows she will hear the stories of the women in her family’s past. Their incredible tales of immigration, war, and fighting for their rights show Isla the strength she has in herself and lead her on a journey of self-discovery. Inspired by the author’s own family, The Doll Box is a testament to the power of our personal histories, and the spirit of the many women who had to overcome incredible odds to achieve their dreams.

The Doll Box might be a 2025 CBCA Early Childhood notable title although this category is for readers aged 0-6. It was better when the CBCA set up this category for ages 3-8.

The Doll Box looks at who we are, how we came to be the way we are, and to understand courage, sometimes we must search for answers in the lives of the those who have gone before us. Kids' Book Review

There is so much we can learn by handing down stories, by listening to the stories of our grandparents, by asking questions, finding connections, discovering things about our predecessors, the grandparents who came before us, inside ourselves. NZ Poetry Box

Companion books:

This Old thing

Other books by Deborah Kelly:

The Thing about Oliver

Read more about The Mosaic

Other books illustrated by Joanna Bartel:

Violin and Cello

I'll Keep you Close by Jeska Verstegen translated by Bill Nagelkerke

"I'm sick of the silence. ... Even when you don't speak, you're still saying something."

I picked up this book in a Melbourne bookshop. Why? I liked the cover (first impressions do count). The cover of the English version of this book is by David Weisner (you may know his fabulous books such as his wordless book Tuesday). Then I read that it was originally published in Dutch (translating books costs a lot of money so usually these books are well worth reading). Finally, I read the blurb and I was intrigued. 

Listen to an audio sample (5 minutes) from the beginning of the book. Here is a video video introduction from the publisher. Here is the review from Lamont Books (this book was included with their Lower Secondary standing order).  I have listed this book as Young Adult. Some booksellers suggest age nine but I think this book is more suited to mature readers aged 11+. 

Publisher blurb: Jeska doesn’t know why her mother keeps the curtains drawn so tightly every day. And what exactly is she trying to drown out when she floods the house with Mozart? What are they hiding from?  When Jeska’s grandmother accidentally calls her by a stranger’s name, she seizes her first clue to uncovering her family’s past, and hopefully to all that’s gone unsaid. With the help of an old family photo album, her father’s encyclopedia collection, and the unquestioning friendship of a stray cat, the silence begins to melt into frightening clarity: Jeska’s family survived a terror that they’ve worked hard to keep secret all her life. And somehow, it has both nothing and everything to do with her, all at once. A true story of navigating generational trauma as a child, I’ll Keep You Close is about what comes after disaster: how survivors move forward, what they bring with them when they do, and the promise of beginning again while always keeping the past close.

Jeska's class are studying World War II and in particular the impact of these events on The Netherlands. At home no one will answer her questions, so she starts a list with the words - who, what, where, how, why and when and every time she hears or learns even the tiniest fragment of information, she adds it to her notebook. Her teacher has talked about the terrible treatment of the Jewish people. He is planning to read a book to the class - Winter in Wartime - but when her mother discovers this, she tells the school Jeska cannot attend this class and instead must sit in a different part of the school each afternoon. Jeska has no idea why. Also no one will talk about Hesje - the name her grandmother used when she was confused during one of their visits to the nursing home. Bomma has a photo album but who are these people and what happened to them?

Going back to what I said about this book being a translation, I did marvel at the poetic language and phrases - here are a few examples:

"A school is a king of monster with a belly full of children. In the morning it gobbles children up, and in the afternoon, it spits them all out again. Me included."

"I step onto the red gravel of our driveway. When you walk on it, it sounds like you're crunching on a biscuit."

"Mr Schouderland is going bald. His hairline is shaped like a small harbour where two boats could anchor."

"I watch my mirror image brush away the tears. I trace the outline of my face in the mirror. My light-coloured eyes stare back at me, a little sad perhaps, but still sparkling. A small face, pale skin, dark hair. Ordinary. A forehead, a jaw, a nose. Nothing special. Except it's my face. Hidden behind it are my thoughts and stories, including today's. Is it a Jewish face that looks back at me? It doesn't feel Jewish. But how does that actually feel? I have no idea."

Here is an interview with Jeska about her book.

Jeska Verstegen is an author and illustrator living in Amsterdam. She is a descendant of Emanuel Querido, the revolutionary Jewish-Dutch publisher who was captured and killed by the Nazis in World War II. Jeska began her career in 1990 as an illustrator for magazines and children's books. I’ll Keep You Close is her debut novel, based on the true story of her own family history.

Debut author Vestergen tells this true story of her family’s previously unrevealed identity and history. ... Setting this book apart from other Holocaust survivor stories are the language and imagery, a family story that focuses on very young children, the Dutch setting, and the attempts of a sensitive young person to understand mystifying adult behavior and PTSD—in its specificity, it finds the universal. Kirkus Star review

Here is the Dutch cover of I'll Keep you Close.

Read about the translator Bill Nagelkerke here. He translated has some books I have read and enjoyed: Eep! by Joke van Leeuwen; The Day My Father Became a Bush by Joke Van Leeuwan; and Wolf and Dog by Sylvia Vanden Heede.

Farmhouse by Sophie Blackall

 

This book is a lyrical love letter to the past and to an old house that saw children grow and change until the house itself grew too old to stay standing. While this broken old house could not be rescued by Sophie Blackall, I love that she was able to retrieve so many fragments from the history of the house and then painstakingly incorporate them into her delicate collage illustrations. 

Her voice is so authentic recounting the lives of the family with twelve children who lived long ago in this house. There is a beautiful sense of completion when we meet the final and youngest child, now an old lady, who takes her last look around the house before leaving it to nature and tempest. While it is sad, it is also good to see the raw and messy state of the house fifty years after the last family left. From the artist page illustration where we see Sophie Blackall with her materials there is a feeling that even though the house is now gone its spirit will live on. 

The author note at the back of the book is essential reading and heartbreaking with those words “a roaring excavator would come and extend its long neck and open its wide jaws, bite through the beams, push over the walls, crunch up the parlor organ … “. I love the way Sophie scattered seeds on the land after the house was gone. 

The design of Farmhouse is scrumptious – the embossed cover, the wrap around image on the dust jacket, the view of the inside of the house, a little like a dollhouse, found under the dust jacket, the front-end papers with all the patterns and textures and objects from the house, and the photos at the back of those twenty-one dresses looking like ghosts from the house and along with the old organ. I wish I had a button that was once a shell in the sea - that is the perfect refrain. 

This book is sure to delight readers of all ages. The story telling is rich and nostalgic. There is a very strong sense of time and place. The illustrations can be revisited over and over again and each time the discovery of new details will delight children and adults alike. I also love the pace of the illustrations. We move from pages with so much detail and then turn to a quieter page such as the barn milking scene and the apple tree. To my eye those pages and the one where we see the surrounding farmland feel like places where a reader can take a "visual" breath - these are quieter pages.  

The rhythm and meter of the narrative is perfect. It undulates and weaves in and out of the family's little life in a playful and surprising way, drawing the reader in to 'eavesdrop' on the life of the family before sending the reader out to explore details gently dropped into the tale such as the button that was once a shell. It made me reach for my own grandmother's button jar to see if I had a shell button like this. IF I had been able to read this book with a group of children my button (like this one below) would have been my starting point. 

Image Source Etsy

It has taken me a while to talk about this book because I had to wait until after the CBCA (Children's Book Council of Australia) announced their award winners for 2023 - this waiting is part of being a judge. Farmhouse was shortlisted for the picture book award. The judge's comments were partly written by me, so they do overlap with my comments here. 

Here are some review comments:

A lovely, tender reimagining of people in a long-past time and place. Kirkus Star review

Maybe that’s the thing about this book I like so much. Picture books about old houses or old cars or other old structures view natural decomposition as something to be fought and fixed. Farmhouse respectfully disagrees. The tragedy at work here is that the stories that took place in this house might not get told again. They might fade in the memories of the people who knew them. So rather than refurbish and restore the house, Sophie refurbishes and restores the family and their lives in book form. And maybe there will be a child that reads this book and begins to wonder about old photographs in their own homes. Maybe they’ll ask for stories about their own ancestors and, if they’re lucky, maybe they’ll hear some they never heard before. We can’t help but wonder about the people who came before us. Isn’t it nice when someone like Sophie Blackall is able to give them a little gift, in appreciation for coming before? A lovely, moving, thoughtful book, full of children, life and death, and the turning of the years. Fuse 8 Betsy Bird SLJ

I loved watching Sophie Blackall share her process and art creations for this book on Instagram. Here is one moment.  Sophie Blackall talks to the Horn Book magazine. IBBY President Dr Robyn Sheahan-Bright has prepared some outstanding teachers notes. Here is another interview with Sophie by Parnassus Books in Nashville. 

There are hundreds of decisions to be made on every page of a picture book. In this book, in this family, there are twelve children, and they all have chores and I want it to be historically accurate, but I also want to give the characters depth and not lock them into gender roles.

The perfect comparison text is The Little House.

The Little House

I also suggest looking for these:

The Hidden House (and) House Held up by trees

A House that once was