Internationally acclaimed author, Gary Crew, and multi-award-winning illustrator Shaun Tan collaborate in this powerful picture book about war to help us all remember...
Gary Crew has an outstanding reputation as a writer of Young Adult fiction and innovative picture books. His numerous prizes and awards include CBC Book of the Year, CBC Honour Book, and CBC Picture Book of the Year. As well as writing fiction, Gary is a Associate Professor in Creative Writing. Shaun Tan is the author and illustrator of The Lost Thing, The Red Tree and The Arrival, all of which have won numerous international awards. The Lost Thing animation recently won an Oscar for the best animated short film. The Arrival won Shaun the Bologna Ragazzi Prize and Picture Book of the Year from CBCA 2007 amongst others. Shaun's books have been widely translated. In 2001 Shaun received the 'World Fantasy Best Artist Award' for his body of work. Shaun is the winner of the 2011 Astrid Lindgren prize, the world's richest children's literature award. The award described Shaun as 'a masterly visually storyteller'.
Gr 5-8-A conversation among an unnamed boy, his great-grandfather, grandparents, and parents reveals a sense of community and remembrance that grew up around a statue and fig tree planted when Australian soldiers returned from the First World War. Each man in the family participated in a different war and shares memories of returning home afterward. The protagonist's inquisitiveness turns to idealistic outrage when local officials propose removing the tree since its roots are lifting the pavement ("bitumen" in Australia), causing a traffic hazard. The boy believes that the tree is as much a memorial as the statue, and that it houses animals and plants that are valuable to the town. An aura of sadness and pessimism pervades the story: the boy's great-grandfather says, "They'll beat you, son. The big boys will beat you every time. They'll chop you to bits-." The town council does take down the tree, but the youngster is consoled by reflecting on his great-grandfather's opinion that it is people's fighting spirit that is remembered in the end. Detailed, engrossing, multimedia collages draw in readers and hint at hard war times, warm family times, and stages in the life of the tree and in the community. It's undeniably a powerful package, but one that will have a hard time finding its audience; middle-school art and social-studies teachers may be the key to its success.-Ellen Fader, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
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