Fiction- Age 9 up

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Dutch Writer and Illustrator

Joke van Leeuwen

The Day My Father Became A Bush

Gecko Press 2013         $19.99pb           104 pages

ISBN 978 1 8775 7916 5

Themes: Displaced people/ Journeys/ Survival/ War

A clearly crafted story in which we come to expect the unexpected. In it we meet and become involved in the lives of Toda, her father who is a soldier sent away to fight in a war he doesn’t believe in and Toda’s grandmother who is left behind in the city with the war coming closer each day.  But it is her mother, a somewhat shadowy figure, who is the haven and the reason for Toda’s journey across the war wrecked countryside filled with seemingly insurmountable incidents. A story both poignant and funny  (and the illustrations highlight the humour of the text so well) which would be rewarding to read aloud to a class or group of children and which will help to swell the collection of other high quality books that have been appearing this year just in time for ANZAC Day.

See also Melinda Szymanik A Winter's Day in 1939 and ANZAC Day – The New Zealand Story by Philippa Werry both reviewed recently on this Blog. (Use the search box to find them!)   

Year 5 up/ Age 9 up

Go to: http://www.geckopress.co.nz for more unusual books from this publisher.