Mister Whistler  Margaret Mahy  Gavin Bishop

Mr Whistler  Margaret Mahy
Ill. Gavin Bishop
Gecko Press (2012)
Picture book, 32 pages, Paperback
ISBN  978 1 877467 91 2

This picture book was published just after the death of Margaret Mahy (1936-2012) but Gavin Bishop was able to show her its proof sheets a few weeks before she died. The same proof sheets were displayed at her funeral and memorial services which celebrated her life and achievement.

Mister Whistler is a little gem of a story about an absent-minded young man catching a train. Gavin Bishop’s evocative water colour illustrations capture both the atmosphere of the 1950s and Mister Whistler’s ebullient personality. He is so lively that he even sings and dances in his sleep. When he goes to catch the train to Whistlestop, he is so happily humming and dancing that he misplaces his ticket. (Delighted readers will spot the missing ticket.) Searching thoroughly, Mr Whistler removes his clothes in the opposite order to which he dressed earlier in the morning. Coat, jacket, waistcoat, shirt and trousers are all removed and searched. “No ticket! Nothing!” 

All through the complex process, Mr Whistler has been dancing and, to his surprise, people on the station platform have filled his hat with money. “What dancing!” they cried. “What energy! What grace!” 

Finding his ticket, Mr Whistler tucks it in his mouth while he swiftly puts all his clothes back on again. Unfortunately, in the excitement of getting on the train, Mr Whistler swallows his ticket. 

“Wasn’t it a lucky thing he’d earned all that money with his wild dancing?”

Gavin Bishop’s imaginative illustrations are a magnificent series of variations on a theme as Mr Whistler dresses, undresses and dresses again. His movements are marvellous and echo the musical notes which twine their way through the pictures. Every aspect of a 1950s wooden railway station’s architecture has been immortalised in a simplified form. (Railway stations had gardens in those days, and this one has lovely pansies.) 

Young readers who look carefully at the advertising placard on the platform will spot the lady in the poster responding to Mr Whistler’s dancing. They will also be intrigued to see who is seated in front of Mr Whistler in the train.

Mr Whistler is a wonderful farewell to Margaret Mahy.

  Trevor Agnew, 2012  [Review 2584]

Footsteps through the Fog   Margaret Mahy   Gavin Bishop 

 

Footsteps through the Fog        

Margaret Mahy
Ill. Gavin Bishop
Puffin (2012)
Illustrated story
Picture book                                       
32 pages Paperback
ISBN   978 0 143 50557 0

 

‘She should stay at home,’ said Ivy. ‘She won’t be able to see the sea.’

 

Anthea is the middle-sized one in the family of five children about to go for a walk to the beach. She is also blind.

 ‘I can’t see the sea, but I can small it and hear it,’ says Anthea, adding, ‘And anyway, I listen hard. I reckon I listen harder than anyone else.’

 Anthea’s words prove prophetic. The five children walk downhill through the settlement to the beach. The story shows Anthea using her senses to appreciate the world around her, listening, smelling and touching. ‘She could tell what was in front of her by touching the sand with her cane. She bent over and touched what her cane had discovered.’

Suddenly a sea fog rolls in, and the other children become disoriented. Max can’t see the bridge. Anthea, however, can hear the creek flowing and so leads them to it, using her cane to count the steps they have to climb. Anthea is able to guide them, using her sense of smell (the baker’s shop, a lavender bush), her memory of the street plan, and her ability to hear the rustling of trees. With her cane, Anthea counts the steps and feels the letterboxes, until she has brought everyone safely home.

 ‘Anthea rescued us by smelling and listening,’ Wendy said. 

As well as being one of those rare books with a blind protagonist, Footsteps through the Fog is also a celebration of the human senses.  Margaret Mahy’s simple but evocative prose is matched by Gavin Bishop’s colour illustrations of the autumn landscape. He is particularly good at suggesting the way the fog isolates people and confuses their senses.

 The book also contains information about the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind, as well as a complete Braille alphabet pressed into the back cover flap. Braille symbols on the front cover spell out Footsteps through the Fog. Copies of this book are also available in Braille, large print and audio versions.

  Trevor Agnew                                 

6 October 2012  
[Review 2606]