Accessibility Tools

  • Content scaling 100%
  • Font size 100%
  • Line height 100%
  • Letter spacing 100%

Tide of history

by
November 2005, no. 276

Young Murphy: A boy’s adventure by Gary Crew, illustrated by Mark Wilson

Lothian, $27.95 hb, 32 pp

Book 2 Cover Small (400 x 600)

101 Great Killer Creatures by Paul Holper and Simon Torok, illustrated by Stephen Axelsen

ABC Books, $14.95 pb, 89 pp

Iron Soldiers: A story of arms and armour by Dave Luckett, illustrated by Joseph Bond

Scholastic, $29.95 hb, 32 pp

Tide of history

by
November 2005, no. 276

There is an almost overwhelming tide of historical texts for young people being published at the moment. Fictional accounts of actual events are enormously popular, and frequently the diary form is used, as this is felt to be more accessible to young people, and also gives the writer licence to use the historical present tense with impunity.

Gary Crew and Mark Wilson have collaborated on Young Murphy: A Boy’s Adventure, which presents a diary in a picture-book format. John Murphy was a fifteen-year-old boy who was part of Ludwig Leichhardt’s expedition to find a route through the Darling Downs of south-east Queensland to Port Essington, near present-day Darwin. During the expedition, Leichhardt’s incompetence as any kind of navigator or leader led to the loss of supplies and transport, serious altercations with Aborigines and, ultimately, death and disability for team members. Crew presents Murphy’s diary in spare and period prose. Murphy’s devotion to his new father figure, John Gilbert, is seen in his increasing interest in botany and drawing, as well as in the necessary questioning of his childhood beliefs. His disgust with Leichhardt’s leadership is evident in his sorrow at the loss of John Gilbert and in his boyish outrage and helplessness in the face of cruelty to animals.

Young Murphy: A boy’s adventure

Young Murphy: A boy’s adventure

by Gary Crew, illustrated by Mark Wilson

Lothian, $27.95 hb, 32 pp

101 Great Killer Creatures

101 Great Killer Creatures

by Paul Holper and Simon Torok, illustrated by Stephen Axelsen

ABC Books, $14.95 pb, 89 pp

Iron Soldiers: A story of arms and armour

Iron Soldiers: A story of arms and armour

Dave Luckett, illustrated by Joseph Bond

Scholastic, $29.95 hb, 32 pp

From the New Issue

You May Also Like

Leave a comment

If you are an ABR subscriber, you will need to sign in to post a comment.

If you have forgotten your sign in details, or if you receive an error message when trying to submit your comment, please email your comment (and the name of the article to which it relates) to ABR Comments. We will review your comment and, subject to approval, we will post it under your name.

Please note that all comments must be approved by ABR and comply with our Terms & Conditions.