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.
Picture Books for Older Readers
