Claire
Saxby is award-winning writer of fiction, non-fiction and poetry for children. Her
work is published widely throughout Australian and internationally. She was
born in Melbourne and now lives there, although there were many years of living
interstate, regionally and also in Papua New Guinea. She has written about war,
about Australia’s iconic animals, about history and also writes stories about
families, pets and sailors with enormous appetites. Claire visits schools,
libraries and festivals throughout Australia and beyond, sharing the curiosity
that underpins her work and encouraging young writers to play with words in
telling their own stories.
Claire's other books include Big Red Kangaroo, Emu, My Name is Lizzie Flynn, and There was an Old Sailor.
Introducing Max Berry
Max Berry is a painter born who was born in 1987 in Katherine in the Northern Territory. Max completed a Bachelor of Design in 2009 at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales in Sydney, majoring in Graphic Design and Textiles. This is his first picture book.
Introducing Jeremy Lord
Jeremy Lord is a French-Australian illustrator based in Sydney. With a master’s degree in graphic design and illustration, Jeremy’s work covers a range of styles and applications. His main inspirations, however, will always be the work of artists like Monet, Schiele and the more contemporary Saul Bass. He loves to draw everything and anything, and when not doing that, he'll probably be trying to catch a wave or two.
Meet the Anzacs
ISBN: 978-0-857981936
Author: Claire Saxby
Illustrator: Max Berry
Publisher: Random House
Buy Here
Meet
the Anzacs. Anzac stands for Australian and New Zealand
Army Corps. It is the name given to the Australian and New Zealand troops who
landed at Gallipoli in World War I. The name is now a symbol of bravery and
mateship. Discover how Australia and New Zealand solders became Anzacs.
Teaching resource Here
Meet Weary Dunlop
ISBN: 978-0-857985873
Author: Claire Saxby
Illustrator: Jeremy Lord
Publisher: Random House
Buy Here
Meet Weary Dunlop Sir Edward ‘Weary’
Dunlop was an Australian Army surgeon during World War II. This is the story of
how Weary’s bravery and compassion helped to save the lives and bolster the
spirits of fellow prisoners of war on the Thai–Burma Railway.
Teaching resource Here
Interview
Anzacs
I had to take a big deep breath before I
began to research for Meet the Anzacs. War is such an enormous subject, it was challenging
to know where to begin. But once I had made the decision to write about the
preparation for war by Australians and New Zealanders, I was set. While ANZAC
was a word coined initially as shorthand for the two national forces, it has
grown to become so much more. Each year, both Australia and New Zealand
remember the first Anzac Day, and embrace all those who represent their
countries at war. Researching this book helped me to understand more about how
important it is to remember.
Sad/tragic
During my research, I found that the War
Memorial in Canberra had begun to digitise diaries from soldiers. I was able to
read handwritten letters and diaries. I read diary entries from several men,
written the night before the landing at Gallipoli. One was from a new soldier
who was excited and nervous about what the next day would bring, and another
from a seasoned officer who knew something of what could happen and was
determined to protect his young soldiers. I also read several letters from one
soldier to different members of his family: to his father; to his mother; to
his young sister. The contrasts in the content and voices told me so much about
his relationships and about the responsibility he felt to each of them and to
Australia. I also discovered how many men joined up thinking that war would be
a grand adventure and a way to travel to Europe.
Interesting
My grandfather went to England and France
during WWI. I’d known it, but not really thought much about it. I knew he met
my grandmother in England after she fled there from Belgium but I knew nothing
really about what he was doing there. Researching this book I discovered so
much more about him as a person. It’s been like getting to know him all over
again.
Weary
Positive
I knew about Weary Dunlop. I’d read his
diaries and biographies about him and his time in POW camps along the
Burma-Thai Railway. He was a giant of a man who did an amazing job of
protecting his men in very difficult circumstances. The positive for me though,
in writing this story was in discovering that the man so revered for his work
in WWII was also a child who got into trouble at school, a prankster and a
daredevil. The hero was human. This does not diminish what he achieved, but is
a reminder that there is the potential for heroism in everyone.
Sad/tragic
This is such a tough story, about life in
POW camps in terrible conditions and with cruel captors. There is so much that
is tragic here. So many men died, and those who survived would have to carry
the physical and psychological scars for the remainder of their lives. The
culture of the times meant that they only felt able to share their stories with
fellow survivors, not with family or even with medical professionals. The cost
of this is immeasurable.
Interesting
The innovation of Weary and his men was
amazing. They had very little in the way of medicines, instruments, equipment or
building materials. But they adapted what they had in ingenious ways. Bamboo
became a wonder-material. It was used in building, was adapted to make beds and
stretchers, shaped into water-carriers, cut and shaped for all sorts of medical
purposes and much more.
It's such an important area.
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