Sally Morgan, illustrated by Bronwyn Bancroft,
Dan’s Grandpa
Freemantle Arts Centre Press, 2007; originally printed 1996.
Ages 5-10
Right at the opening of this moving, sensitive story of a boy’s love for his grandfather, we learn that Dan’s Grandpa died six months earlier and Dan misses him terribly. The narrative looks back over the past before overtaking its starting point, and by the end of the book, Dan is finally able to emerge from the rawness of recent bereavement towards the comfort of knowing that, as his Grandpa persistently told him, “Don’t worry, Dan, don’t worry” – he would always be there to look after his grandson. The catalyst for this shift in his grief comes from a no-longer-hoped-for quarter, which adds to the story’s poignancy.
Readers follow Dan as he remembers all the special things he and his Grandpa did together, like fishing and dancing, and how Grandpa passed on his heritage to his beloved grandson: such as love and respect for the nature around them, and traditional stories and songs in their native Naml language. Bronwyn Bancroft’s bold illustrations come into their own here, evoking Dan’s aboriginal roots and his spiritual connection with his landscape. While they appear to be expansive in their scope, the illustrations also pinpoint details in the story, like the “lollies” Grandpa keeps hidden under his pillow at the hospital, to give to Dan when he visits. And young readers will make friends with Grandpa’s dog and cockatoo long before they make an appearance in the written narrative. Bancroft uses traditional aboriginal art to create a flow of energy that pulsates through the story and adds an emotional charge to Sally Morgan’s simple, dignified prose: whether its Grandpa telling stories about the stars, or Dan at school, in his mind already at the end of the day, running to the hospital to visit his sick grandfather.
Dan’s Grandpa is a beautiful, simple story which will resonate especially with young children who have lost a grandparent, or indeed any dear loved one. First published fifteen years ago, it is as fresh as ever today and looks set to become a timeless classic that will communicate on a contemporary level with its readers both now and in the future.
Marjorie Coughlan
May 2011
It’s Australia Day in, well, Australia today and Slightly Addicted to Fiction has highlighted what sounds like a particularly stunning book by one of my favorite Australian illustrators, Bronwyn Bancroft – Why I Love Australia.
Meanwhile Book Chook features a paper boomerang ativity… And while you’ve got the paper and scissors out, how about making a PaperTigers Paper Tiger while you’re at it?
Possum and Wattle – My Big Book of Australian Words by Bronwyn Bancroft was a recent impulse buy – I simply couldn’t leave the shop without a copy…
Photo: Marxchivist
This A-Z book of single words each individually illustrated is a great introduction to Australian, and more particularly Aboriginal culture. Some words are instantly recognisable as “Australian”, such as joey, possum, didgeridoo or boomerang, whilst others were new to me and my kids eg quandong (a tree bearing bright red, edible fruit), quokka (a small wallaby found on Rottnest and Bald islands off the coast of Western Australia), willy-willy (a spiralling wind of dust, like a small whirlwind) and yabby (an edible crayfish).
There’s a third group of words which we initially wondered why they had been selected as especially Australian eg sun and snowflake, but that’s where the glossary at the back of the book came in very helpful – for most of the words which appear in the book there is a sentence or two about them, explaining what the word means (“wobbegong: a type of shark with a flat body that lives on the bottom of the sea“) or why it has been included (“sun: According to Aboriginal dreaming, the sun came out of the earth. The sun is central to the Aboriginal flag.“)
Through just a small selection of Australian vocabulary M, J and I have been able to explore and discuss and think about lots of different aspects of Australian Aboriginal culture and for this alone the book is a welcome addition on our bookshelves, but I’d be lying if I pretended it wasn’t the illustrations that keep bringing us back to read the book again and again.
Bronwyn Bancroft’s father was Bundjalung – the Bundjalung people are Australian Aborigines whose homeland is on the northern coastal areas of New South Wales (Australia) and the illustrations in this book are so-called “dot” art, perhaps the most recognisable form of Aboriginal painting (click here for a helpful introduction to Australian Indigenous art).
We all adore the illustrations – you can’t help but feel cheerful when you look at them but I also have one tiny gripe about the artwork. Although the book includes great contextual information on the words chosen, there is no background information on the pictures and painting technique, and I think this is a lost opportunity. For example, I would have liked to find out if “dot” art is common to all Aboriginal groups, or whether it is a specifically Bundjalung tradition (perhaps a blog reader can give us some information here? 
)
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Aline Pereira,
on 2/8/2009
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Over a year ago now, I blogged about the beautiful poem Outback written by the then eight-year-old Annaliese Porter and published by Magabala Books in Australia, in a stunning edition illustrated by renowned artist Bronwyn Bancroft. I recently lent our copy of Outback to a friend to use with her class of eight-year-olds here in the UK, when they were learning about aboriginal art, and it was an eye-opening experience for them to work with a book written by someone their own age.
Now Magabala have done it again - they recently published Joshua and the Two Crabs by Joshua Button, “a young man with a keen interest in the saltwater country he has grown up in”.
It’s a delightful story, told with humour, as Joshua chases the two crabs around the beach, telling them,
‘I can see you two!’
‘Well, we can see you too,’ said the crabs.
The three-fold repetition of this satisfying formula perhaps lulls young readers/ listeners into a false sense of this being a wholly imaginary, anthropomorphised tale - so it comes as a bit of a shock when Joshua catches them and then throws them onto the fire to cook for lunch! However, Joshua’s matter-of-fact tone is quite in keeping with the descriptive narrative… I would say the story is a perfect example of a child’s ability to weave fact and fiction together in one breath. We adults sometimes walk a tightrope here. How often have you found yourself in a no-win situation? Either you go along with the imaginings and are berated for saying something which is obviously not true, or you are likewise reproached for throwing in the cold water of fact! Well, Joshua Button seems to have got the blend just right, judging by Little Brother’s reaction.
He was chuckling for a long time that Joshua carried a bucket and spear at the beach - and he loved the pictures - he liked the textures and layering. They are indeed stunning - the colors bring the sea and the creek alive; the crabs are wonderful, as are the vignettes of the waders - and I especially loved Joshua peering down at the crabs in his very goggly goggles!
A while after reading it together, it bcame apparent that Little Brother had been mulling it over:
“Joshua Button does exist.”
“Yes, he does.”
“Do you think this is a true story?
“Yes, I do.”
“But the bit about talking crabs is fiction.”
“Probably.”
“Well, it could say that”
“But it’s a story - fundamentally it’s a story, isn’t it?
“Well, it did happen. It’s a story about two crabs.”
…and he is now thinking about writing his own book. In my post yesterday, I quoted Jarrett Krosoczka and the effect on him of a comment from a visiting author to his school - how much more aspirational then to read a book in print that is written by someone your own age! Not only has Joshua Button given children all over the world the opportunity to find out about a a fun family day out in his corner of Australia, he has opened them to the possibility that they could do it too. Thank you, Magabala Books!
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Aline Pereira,
on 5/29/2008
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Children’s stories told and/or illustrated by Aboriginal people have been receiving serious attention for several decades now. It’s a different world from that of early pioneers like Australian Dick Roughsey, of Mornington Island in Queensland. I’ve posted previously about illustrator Bronwyn Bancroft and Magabala Books in western Australia. To delve deeper, this article about the history of aboriginal children’s literature illustrators features work by another early favorite, Pat Torres.
Magabala publishes a list of Australian and New Zealand children’s books by and about Aboriginals. AustralEd also has a list of books about Australian indigenous peoples, many by Aboriginal writers. Indij Readers publishes school reading materials by Aboriginal people that provide “diversity of Aboriginal identity, voice, and representation.” Here’s an introduction to their work.
In Canada, Pemmican publishes children’s books by and about the Metis aboriginal people. The Penumbra Press, a small fine-art and literary publishing house, offers many books for children based on Northern and Native literatures. And the Our Story website publishes stories by young winners of the Canadian Aboriginal Writing Challenge.
Unsympathetic governments worldwide, east and west, make it difficult for the stories and traditions of native peoples to be passed on to subsequent generations. It is gratifying to salute the great work of organizations, writers and illustrators who bring these treasures to all of us.
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Aline Pereira,
on 3/13/2008
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Another supplement to our January-February update on illustrators…
Whenever I browsed children’s books in Australia (I was there September-December, 2007), I was drawn to the vivid illustrations of award-winning Aboriginal artist and designer Bronwyn Bancroft, whose most recent books, published by Little Hare, are An Australian ABC of Animals (2005), Patterns of Australia (2006), and An Australian 123 of Animals (2007). Throughout Bronwyn’s multi-faceted career she has been raising consciousness about Aboriginal culture. Early on, she developed a line of textiles based on Aboriginal patterns that’s now in a museum collection (search here). She’s also an internationally recognized painter with work in many museum collections. Her painting, “You don’t even look Aboriginal,” inspired a widely-used classroom teaching unit in Australian schools.
Bronwyn’s first children’s book, The Fat and Juicy Place, written by Dianna Kidd, won the Australian Multicultural Children’s book award in 1993. Her illustrations of Stradbroke Dreamtime were the Australian candidate for UNICEF’s Ezra Jack Keats international award for excellence in children’s book illustrations. In this transcript of an inspiring 2004 Australian national television (ABC) profile, she talks about her early life and the development of her work, career, and mission.
By: Ben Zimmer,
on 12/6/2007
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When we think about new additions to the English lexicon such as locavore or tase (or other candidates for the New Oxford American Dictionary Word of the Year), it’s easy to forget that some of our most common vocabulary items were once awkward newcomers, like transfer students desperately trying to fit in with the other kids in class. A good reminder of that is John Ayto’s A Century of New Words. Looking through this “chronology of words that shaped our age,” one is struck again and again how so many of our old lexical friends are really not so old after all. Have we really only been talking about plastics since 1909, when Leo Baekeland invented bakelite? And who would have guessed the T-shirt has only been around since 1920, and the zipper since 1925? All of these words must have sounded downright peculiar when they first came on the scene, and yet now they’re unremarkable elements of the linguistic landscape.
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By: Ben Zimmer,
on 11/29/2007
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In the interviews I’ve done with the press for the New Oxford American Dictionary Word of the Year selection, one word from our runner-up list always seems to draw comment: tase (or taze), meaning “to stun with a Taser (a brand of electroshock gun).” The incident that popularized the word tase is still fresh in the minds of many Americans: at a public forum with Sen. John Kerry at the University of Florida on Sep. 17, 2007, the student Andrew Meyer was arrested by University police after being subdued with a Taser. As millions would later see on YouTube and surrounding media coverage, Meyer shouted, “Don’t tase me, bro!” as the police sought to restrain him. This quickly became a well-traveled catchphrase, appearing on bumper stickers, T-shirts, and the like. Despite all the attention tase has received from this event, the word actually has had a long history predating its moment in the pop-cultural sun. (more…)
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By: Rebecca,
on 8/2/2007
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Today we have posted part 4 in the series we are co-posting with Moreover. Diane and Michael Ravitch are the authors of “The English Reader: What Every Literate Person Needs To Know“. Diane is Professor of Education at the Steinhardt School of Education, New York University. Her books include “The American Reader”, “The Language Police”, “Left Back” and “The Troubled Crusade”. Michael Ravitch is a freelance critic and writer, his work has appeared in the New Republic, Yale Review and other publications. Be sure to check out parts one, two and three also. (more…)
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Posted on 7/30/2007
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It’s a rare opportunity when I get to both introduce a wonderful new blog and announce that OUP authors will be guest blogging there all week. Moreover: Life and Art is The Economist’s new culture blog headed up by Emily Bobrow. Everyday this week Michael and Diane Ravitch, authors of The English Reader: What Every Literate Person Needs To Know, will be blogging there. Diane is Professor of Education at the Steinhardt School of Education, New York University. Her books include “The American Reader”, “The Language Police”, “Left Back” and “The Troubled Crusade”. Michael Ravitch is a freelance critic and writer, his work has appeared in The New Republic, Yale Review and other publications. Below is the first blog in the series.
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If you’re looking for another Australian craft, didgeridoos are not that hard to make. You can find one set of instructions here. It can easily be done as a project with children, especially if you prep the sanding and let them concentrate on the decorating part.
We recently borrowed a similar book from the library, but the title escapes me. Again, I think it was the illustrations that attracte Princess.
Most Indigenous artwork that I have seen has been dot painting, but the value in the painting is in the creation of it, as traditionally (and this is my understanding from study nearly 20 years ago) the artwork would be created with a story, so the story and process was of more value than the finished work, a Western concept that I thi nk amused the Indigenous at some point, probably when they first started getting the big dollars. That said, many artists have been ripped off, as have been collectors, and I remember watching something which was almost sweat shop art production.
Wow. I’m always floored by the things you do around a book. Your girls are LUCKY!
For alphabet around a country – ‘I is for India’ by Prodeepta Das is a whole A-Z with a picture per letter accompanied by a narrative. Nice.
We also have A is for Africa, B is for Brazil and C is for China in our home library. All are great introductions to those cultures (though I don’t think Africa should be bundled up into one as if its a single country).
I think there are many more along the same lines.
Looks like a great book, it doesn’t sound full of Australin stereotypes. I will say that each group of Aboriginal people has seperate language and traditions, so, for example, Aboriginal words are not common to all Aboriginal languages.
There are 3 main forms of Aboriginal art –
1) dot painting, mainly done in Central Australia. Originally it was done in the sand and last century they were introduced to canvases (and the value of selling their art). The stories are traditional and told using traditional symbols with many layers of meaning. Canvasses are easy to preserve making this a valuable, saleable form of Aboriginal art. I would say that the illustrations in your book are stylized to look Aboriginal rather than being traditional art.
2) bark painting, mainly found in North Australia (they are difficult to preserve and so have less value).
3) European-style art of the Hermannsburg school, a tradition started by Albert Namatjira
There is also Torres Strait Islander art where they make beautiful, intricatle lino prints.
Go here http://www.nt.gov.au/nreta/museums/exhibitions/natsiaa/index.html to the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award and you can find virtual exhibitions (past year) showing all the styles from leading artists, plus examples of contemporary Aboriginal art.