From that time onwards Hush was visible. But once a year, on her birthday, she and Grandma Poss ate a vegemite sandwich, a piece of pavlova and a half a lamington, just to make sure that Hush stayed visible forever. Julie Vivas’s watercoloured scenes and characters exist in white space, anchored by the horizontal linesContinue reading “Possum Magic 1983”
Author Archives: Margaret R Kett
Who Sank the Boat? 1982
Was it the little mouse, the last to get in, who was lightest of all? Could it be him? The toddler – as picture reader and listener – knows that the climax of the story is coming, and their delight in the triumph of the smallest creature will be complete. Allen has drawn all eyesContinue reading “Who Sank the Boat? 1982”
Sunshine 1981
The blurb says: Everybody gets up sometime in the morning. This is the story of one small girl who one day woke up rather earlier than anyone else. Artist Jan Ormerod constructed in her silent picturebook a layout of panels, differing in sizes and orientation, to show increments of time as actions. The page aboveContinue reading “Sunshine 1981”
In a Flap 1980
The question on the cover Where’s Spot? alerts the reader that this will be a quest. There is backstory in this first spread. Sally must be Spot’s mother – if the smacky opening sentence doesn’t give it away, we see that her bowl is the larger. She’s rolling her eyes so that we know we’reContinue reading “In a Flap 1980”
The Wild Washerwomen 1979
‘The washerwomen never went back to work for Mr Balthazar Tight. They married the woodcutters, who built them some new log huts to live in. and after that, people who travelled along the mountain path would see them, all happily washing and woodcutting and having the time of their lives.’ Blake describes John Yeoman, whoContinue reading “The Wild Washerwomen 1979”
George and Martha 1978
James Marshall has drawn George ministering to his friend Martha, who has foolishly spent too long in the sun. Although these animals live in suburbia there are signs that it strains to accommodate them : her pretty rose quilt sags to the floor and the doorway seems to ease upwards to let George through. AContinue reading “George and Martha 1978”
The Aboriginal Children’s History of Australia 1977
Year 1 of 40 ‘This is our land. It goes back, a long way back, into the Dreamtime, into the land of our Dreaming.’ In paintings, drawings in texta and pencil, children from communities all over Australia tell stories from their world in the late 1970s, and times past. The format of the book isContinue reading “The Aboriginal Children’s History of Australia 1977”
Baby Ways 2006
This is the way the baby reads Touch, point, see! Here is a mother describing her son’s first encounter with Baby Ways, to a researcher from Edith Cowan University.I thought it was fantastic. First of all you had every colour in there, you had everysize of baby in that some were a bit skinny, someContinue reading “Baby Ways 2006”
The Little Bookroom’s Birthday
On this day, in 1960, Albert Ullin opened The Little Bookroom in Melbourne. I first knew the shop in 1977 as a tiny space in Equitable Place in the city. It glowed its welcome through plate glass windows to the warm wooden shelves filled with books I hadn’t read. In 1977, I’d just started myContinue reading “The Little Bookroom’s Birthday”
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus -2003
Hi! I’m the bus driver. Listen, I’ve got to leave for a little while, so can you watch things for me until I get back? Thanks. Oh and remember: Don’t let the pigeon drive the bus! On a Saturday night in March of 2003, there was an unusually severe windy rainstorm in Perth. The windContinue reading “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus -2003”
40 Years of Picture Books 