1. Adventure
2. Bushfires
3. Danger
4. Fantasy
5. Fear
6. Figurative language
7. Fire
8. Imagery
9. Imagination
10. Metaphors
11. Natural disasters
12. Personification
13. Siblings

Phil Cummings and Andrew McLean together present a dual narrative featuring three young children’s fantasy adventure juxtaposed against the realistic story of an Australian bushfire. Cummings’ use of figurative language is striking and highly evocative. He captures the bushfire as a ferocious character pitched in battle against the children where firefighters are ‘brave knights’ who come to the rescue.

The weather is intensely hot when the ‘sleeping dragon’ (fire) awakens. The children hear the ‘ferocious slap of its wings, its hungry crackle and angry hiss’ and take refuge withing the walls of Everdell (small stone sanctuary), knowing the ‘cruel beast had us trapped’. Rescue is at hand though, when ‘through the smoke, knights (firefighters) appeared’ who ‘slashed the flames with sabres of silver water. The dragon’s long tongue flicked at the tops of trees. They fought hard and defeated the dragon before it could breach the walls of Everdell.’

Andrew McLean’s earth-toned palette captures the colours and character of the Australian landscape using charcoal pencil, watercolour, and pastels. Written in the first person from the point of view of the eldest of three children, the narrative is a lyrical retelling of their fantastical adventure through a magical world. Through stories such as this one, there is an opportunity to build children’s awareness of bushfires—how to keep safe and manage emergencies.

1. Scholastic Teachers’ Notes by Rachel Horsfield Carlyle for ‘Through the Smoke’ https://pegiwilliams.com.au/pdfs/teachernotes/9781760274702.pdf
2. Reading Time 30 Mar 2019 review by Belinda Raposo of ‘Through the Smoke’ https://readingtime.com.au/through-the-smoke/
3. Momo celebrating time to read 4 Jan 2020, short annotations for seven picture books on ‘Bushfires in Australia’. http://momotimetoread.blogspot.com/2020/01/bushfires-in-australia.html
4. StoryLinks 2020 ‘Bushfires, Droughts Floods Selected Fiction’ includes short annotations by Dajo Finlayson of 44 picture books and novels, mostly Australian. https://storylinks.booklinks.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/bushfires-droughts-and-floods.pdf
5. Phil Cummings website, biographical profile https://philcummings.com/bio-photos/
6. Australian Government Geoscience Australia ‘Bushfire’ includes a link to their Education Centre https://www.ga.gov.au/education/classroom-resources/hazards/natural-hazards/bushfire