1. Alzheimer’s disease
2. Death
3. Families
4. Fathers
5. Loss
6. Love
7. Memory
8. Photography
9. Sadness
10. Visual literacy

One day Dad came home with a camera, one of those old-fashioned ones, the kind that uses film. He started taking pictures of all sorts of ordinary things like his bowl of cereal and the alarm clock. It was strange but not as strange as putting fridge things in the cupboard and cupboard things in the fridge. Mum explained that this was part of the process, he is just becoming forgetful.

Dad kept on taking photos of ordinary things and when he finished the first roll of film, he took it to the city to be processed. When he came home, he stuck all the photos across the window of his study. Mum got cross with him that he was not taking photos of us but he just kept clicking away. When he finished one film, he took another then another until the window was almost full of photos. He was doing it so he would not forget, but Mum was angry that he had not taken photos of us as though we were not worth remembering. Then one day the camera was no more, and we thought he had lost it. Then we lost Dad. But Dad had not forgotten them and unexpectedly the camera returns and provides one unforgettable memory.

This is a gentle, thoughtful study of the difficulties faced by families when a close member has early on-set Alzheimer’s. The story is told from the perspective of a young boy as we see him and his mother struggle to deal with the changes being wrought in their family. The ending delivers an emotional impact that conveys the love, a celebration of family and the power of memory for those we have lost.

Hugely important to the story are Liz Anelli’s illustrations. She used a soft palette and placed colour and collage over the top of mono print lifework. The illustrations create a sense of melancholy and loss; in particular, the symbolism used in the image accompanying the four simple words, ‘Then, we lost Dad’. The endpapers are particularly significant. The front pages are filled with family photographs from earlier times while the back endpapers photographs refer to their life after the loss.

‘One Photo’ was shortlisted in the 2017 Children’s Book Council of Australia Picture Book of the Year Awards.

1. Ross Watkins website includes a link to teaching notes he created as well as a Q&A about this book. https://rosswatkins.com/one-photo/
2. Liz Anelli website ‘One Photo’ includes her teaching notes and a book trailer https://lizanelli-illustration.com/project/one-photo
3. Books and Publishing 5 July 2016. Review of ‘One Photo’ by Ross Watkins and Liz Anelli https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2016/07/05/59296/one-photo-ross-watkins-illus-by-liz-anelli-viking/
4. Kirkus Reviews 9 October 2018. Review by Anica Boulanger-Mashberg of ‘Dad’s Camera’ by Ross Watkins and Liz Anelli. This is the US edition of ‘One Photo’ originally published in Australia in 2016 https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/ross-watkins/dads-camera/
5. Kids’ Book Review 27 September 2016. ‘12 Curly questions with Ross Watkins’ http://www.kids-bookreview.com/2016/09/12-curly-questions-with-ross-watkins.html
6. YouTube video 3 November 2017. A student from Charles Weston School Coombs ACT reads ‘One Photo’ by Ross Watkins and Liz Anelli https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19a0y6NZlOw
7. Just Kids Lit blog 8 November 2016. Kellie Byrnes ‘Review: A Moving Picture Book Dealing with Love, Loss, Family and Legacy.’ ‘One Photo’ by Ross Watkins and Liz Anelli https://www.justkidslit.com/review-a-moving-picture-book-dealing-with-love-loss-family-and-legacy/
8. Ross Watkins (2019) ‘Writing the half of it: a challenge unique to picture book authorship’, New Writing: The International Journal for the Practice and Theory of Creative Writing, 16:1, 3-15, DOI: 10.1080/14790726.2018.1452271. Ross Watkins has written an insightful article about the challenges of creating ‘One Photo’ particularly the integration of text and illustration. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14790726.2018.1452271