1. Alliteration
2. Art techniques
3. Book design
4. Christmas
5. Climate
6. Community
7. Courage
8. Cyclones
9. Danger
10. Environmental destruction
11. History
12. Imagery
13. Loss
14. Metaphors
15. Natural disasters
16. Nature
17. Personification
18. Poetry
19. Resilience
20. Visual literacy

‘Cyclone’ is inspired by the true incident when Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory, over Christmas Eve to Boxing Day in 1974. Scenes of ferocious fury appear as the storm literally destroys the town and kills many who lived there.

Jackie French reveals that, working in Canberra at the time, she received a phone call from that father, in the story, who saved his family by sheltering in their barbeque then later called again saying they had all survived. Bruce Whatley explains that he chose black and white photographs as references for his illustrations which were created with graphite pencil and acrylic wash. Over the storm-sodden double pages, the colour palette is predominantly a grey wash and beige contrasted with soft creams and olive greens, each page literally dripping water and capturing the fury and destruction in realistic detail. These pages are largely monochromatic with colour returning during the clean-up and rebuilding.

Jackie French uses poetry with a staccato rhythm both to personify and emphasise the storm’s relentless fury—‘a giant grows and growls, a wind that batters, shrieks and howls’. Words describing the storm lurch across the page, dipping and tossing, reflecting the havoc visible in the illustrations.

Shortlisted in the 71st Book Design Awards, judges commented on the font used in ‘Cyclone’, in particular. The font is described as ‘retro typewriter typography reminiscent of telex machines used during the disaster, the reader is instantly transported back to the 1970s. This font also leant itself to being scattered like debris across the pages in varying degrees of irregularity, building to a crescendo of complete mayhem and chaos.’ (Australian Book Designers Association) According to fact, the font used was chosen to resemble the cinderblocks of the house in the story.

The ‘Natural Disaster Picture Books’ is a series of four books written by Jackie French and illustrated by Bruce Whatley which includes: ‘Flood’ (Scholastic 2011), ‘Drought’ (Scholastic 2011), ‘Fire’ (Scholastic 2014); and ‘Cyclone’ (Scholastic 2016)

Series title: ‘Natural Disaster Picture Books’

1. Scholastic Teachers’ Notes by Radhiah Crowdhury for ‘Cyclone’ https://www.jackiefrench.com/_files/ugd/65071b_d4cb1e536745481a86023a3f37402fc9.pdf
2. Reading Time review 20 Jan 2016 by Liz Anelli of ‘Cyclone’ https://readingtime.com.au/cyclone/
3. Better Reading provides a book synopsis plus profiles of both Jackie French and Bruce Whatley https://www.betterreading.com.au/book/cyclone/
4. Kids’ Book Review 6 May 2016 by Susan Whelan of ‘Cyclone’ http://www.kids-bookreview.com/2016/05/review-cyclone.html
5. Galarious Goods Blog Posts 15 Mar 2022 ‘Five Ways to Explore Jackie French’s Natural Disaster Books in the Classroom https://galariousgoods.com/blog/5-ways-to-explore-jackie-frenchs-natural-disaster-books-in-the-classroom
6. Bruce Whatley’s website ‘Flood Fire Cyclone’ books describes the techniques he used to create these illustrations http://brucewhatley.com/flood-fire-cyclone
7. Australian Book Designers Association, 71st Australian Book Design Awards, shortlisted for the ‘Best Designed Children’s Illustrated Book’ includes nine double-page spreads https://abda.com.au/archive/books/cyclone/
8. National Museum of Australia ‘Defining Moments: Cyclone Tracy hits Darwin’ includes photographs, background information and teaching resources https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/cyclone-tracy#:~:text=Cyclone%20Tracy%2C%20which%20hit%20Darwin,traumatised%20population%20left%20the%20city