Steven Woolman’s graphic design skills takes a text which is somewhat problematic and makes it work as a text that can be read on many layers. The Watertower is nominally about a simple swim in the town water supply. However, the text alludes to and the visual imagery implies that there is something lurking in the watertower which will change Bubba and has already had a major effect on others in the town. The constant repeating of the eye-like symbol on the side of the tower, referenced in the eyes of the people in the street, and the shadows that fall like claws over Bubba’s eye, and the excited expectation on the faces, add to the filmic, surrealist feel of the book.

Jane Yolen adopts an alternative perspective to the story of Columbus, forcing the reader to see his arrival through the eyes of a Taino boy. The avaricious eyes of the greedy Spanish Conquistadors repay their hosts’ hospitality with “the serpent’s smile – no lips and all teeth”. The illustrations compliment a text written from the point of the view of the Other, the de-privileged. The dark, sombre palette in which the Taino gleam like their gold reflects the hidden mysteries of the exotic to western eyes, with images stylised to reference the poses of the “indian” artefacts that are all that are left of their culture. Shannon’s illustrations create a sense that the reader is in the boy’s dream as people of his world appear as ghosts of their lost culture.

The stark image of the jetstream far up in the sky is a powerful yet minimal symbol of the price her city paid for the decisions of others. The graphic vision of the child weeping for her dead mother, the images of death and the thought of a child scratching through the dirt of the school playground and finding the bones of her dead school mates, bring home the reality of what was experienced by the people of Hiroshima. Morimoto blends her own imagery with photographic image and finally her summation of her own recollections.

This is an older text, but still a wonderful one to engage children in the literacy experience, either in the classroom or at home.

‘Memorial’ endeavours to fulfil a number of roles. It is a didactic text, teaching about memory, the honouring of those who went to war, and the need to fight even when the odds are not in your favour. The recount is seen through the eyes of the young boy. The illustrations match the mood of remembrance, sepia, soft and nostalgic. They also reflect the pain which the boy’s father carries with him in the deep gaping hole of a wound when he observes that there are “some things you don’t want to remember”. This is in stark contrast to the warm hazy dappled light of his pleasant reminisces. In the conclusion, Old Pa observes that you are remembered for the fight in you, not whether you succeeded, as the visual language shows the sad, many ringed stump of the now fallen tree.

This is a text which has been used countless times in the classroom, not only for its textual richness, but also for its ability to lend itself to lessons across the curriculum, from Visual Arts to Science to the Built Environment elements of HSIE. Indulge yourself but remember it is a path well trodden in the classroom.

Jeannie Baker, Where the Forest Meets the Sea, London: Walker Books, 1987

Margaret Wild and Julie Vivas, Let the Celebrations begin, Norwood: Omnibus Books, 1991

Penny Matthews and Andrew McLean, A Year on Our Farm, Norwood: Omnibus Books, 2002

Shaun Tan’s The Red Tree is one of those visually sumptuous texts which renews the debate about what constitutes a picture book and for whom is it intended. The rich and varied illustrations balance a problematic text dealing with what for many is depressing reality, where the final message could be construed as a message of hope. Tan’s visual competency provides an increasingly bleak parallel to the textual exploration of what constitutes a really bad day. The protagonist travels through an alienating and threatening world. The images become increasingly menacing as the protagonist becomes more dislocated from her everyday world. She is reflected as increasingly dominated and disenfranchised by the illustrations, and even the moment of empowerment leaves the reader feeling that tomorrow may not get much better.