1. Alliteration
2. Art techniques
3. Book design
4. Dystopian fiction
5. Environmental destruction
6. Fables
7. Friendship
8. Grandparent and child
9. Hope
10. Kindness
11. Literary techniques
12. Memory
13. Post-apocalyptic world
14. Surrealism
15. Survival
16. Symbolism
17. Visual literacy

Grandpapa and Peterboy live inside the earth. Venturing and scavenging for essentials for survival, Peterboy finds the limp form of Idaduck. Amidst all of the deprivation, and against advice, she is nurtured by the darklings – in that process, past traumas are finally addressed and the people of the earth can begin to hope again.

The reader claws their way into the book through muddy endpapers to view the world they’ve created underground. This artist positions us to see a cross-section view of the earth, to be right inside Grandpapa and Peterboy’s home of excavated caverns. Stephen Michael King’s inked brush lyrically flows and drips across the page in harmony with, and responding to, Glenda Millard’s poetic phrasing, striking sentence construction and use of alliteration. These offer a satisfying readaloud experience. Grandpapa’s spectacles are rose-coloured and the bright candle that lights Peterboy’s way is an optimistic sunny yellow amid all of the black and white. Despite this, Grandpapa has to be urged to let forth his stories which will truly light their world above and below.

The thick-inked typography is an essential element in this book and enables the reader to feel the poetry of Millard’s words as Grandpapa’s memories paint windows on the walls. The black world softening to indigo and violet signals the renewal of the earth as surely as the tree that finally bursts into life, taking the reader above ground completely. Idaduck, as the first living thing that has been salvaged from the unspecified ruination of the world, is a powerful symbol in a slender white and yellow body, and the young darklings in their spidery sturdiness are up to the task ahead.

Grandpapa and Peterboy are at peace in their bright future – with more Idaducks above – on the final wordless page.

1. Allen & Unwin Teaching Notes by Robyn Sheahan-Bright for ‘The Duck and the Darklings’ https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/dimo.allenunwin.com/assets/teaching_resource/9781743312612.pdf
2. Biography and complete works of Glenda Millard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenda_Millard
3. Stephen Michael King Illustrations for “The Duck and the Darklings’ https://www.stephenmichaelking.com/books/the-duck-and-the-darkling/
4. Romi Sharp My Little Story Corner 2015. Teaching notes for ‘The Duck and the Darklings’ https://romisharp.wordpress.com/2015/05/18/the-duck-and-the-darklings-teaching-notes/
5. NSW Department of Education 2016. Teaching notes for ‘The Duck and the Darklings’ https://education.nsw.gov.au/content/dam/main-education/teaching-and-learning/professional-learning/media/documents/SPaRK_English_The-Duck-and-the-Darklings_35-3.pdf
6. Youtube 2020 BBC Reel ‘Life against the odds in Australia’s underground town’ provides an insight into Australians living underground https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n9PbHXA6Lo
7. Artguide 2017 Vale Leonard French, Stephen Michael King’s ‘painted windows on the walls’ is reminiscent of Leonard King’s work https://artguide.com.au/vale-leonard-french-1928-2017/