‘The Anzac Billy’ offers insights into a specific time and place through those living there. Readers meet a family who are missing their young soldier fighting overseas. Claire Saxby researched the World War 1 period using historical records. Her story is about Australian families keeping in touch with their young men fighting overseas. Young Billy is the narrator who reveals the Australian custom of ‘filling the billy’ with Christmas mementoes and treats bound for their relations fighting overseas.
On Monday Billy adds his favourite butterscotch candy bar. On Tuesday he adds his brother’s favourite ‘yucky’ fish. On Wednesday he adds walnuts from the tree outside. On Thursday he adds a bar of chocolate, and on Friday ‘just-knit’ socks. Mum and Nanny also add to the billy. The endpapers display some of the billy can’s contents.
The fascinating details of life during these times are also captured by illustrators Mark Jackson and Heather Potter. The kitchen is rendered in great detail – stove, cooking utensils, cupboards and more. The lounge room where the family, dressed in period clothing, gathers to decorate the Christmas tree invites comparisons with today. The grocery and supplies store reveals food, weighing scales and war recruitment posters while outside prams and cars reflect the times. Concluding pages show the billies, now filled with gifts, being packed into boxes, then swung aboard the ship bound for the soldiers overseas.
The watercolour and pencil illustrations offer period details in colours of soft beige, cream, brown, and sage green. These invite comparisons with contemporary times. ‘The Anzac Billy’ is crammed with fascinating details of life during these times. A special rewarding ending features on the final page.
Picture Books for Older Readers
