Facebook Twitter Instagram
    Reading Time
    • Home
    • Reviews
      • Highly Recommended
      • CBCA Short Listed
      • Early Childhood Books
      • Younger Readers
      • Intermediate Readers
      • Older Readers
      • Great Read Alouds
      • Information Books
      • Picture Books
      • Professional Development
    • Interviews
    • Suggestions
    • News
    • Meet The Review Team
    • Contact Us
    Reading Time
    You are at:Home»Reviews»Older Readers»The Art of Taxidermy

    The Art of Taxidermy

    1
    By Admin on November 14, 2018 Older Readers

    Sharon Kernot, The Art of Taxidermy, Text Publishing Company, July 2018, 288 pp., RRP $19.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781925603743

    This mesmerising verse novel is a delicate examination of grief and loss suffered by a young girl and her family. Lottie’s family are German but have been in Australia for many years. When they are interned during World War 11 there are long lasting consequences. In the stunning opening lines eleven-year-old Lottie falls in love with death. She becomes fascinated by the beauty of dead things, a dead gecko, the shiny wing of a dead crow, a stumpy-tailed lizard and more. This interest in bodies and decay is seen as ghoulish, as unnatural and a totally unsuitable interest for a young girl to indulge. Lottie’s mother died giving birth to a still born child and the family still mourns her loss. Another absence is Annie, Lottie’s sister who drowned in her grandmother’s dam some years ago. So Lottie lives with her father and is looked after by her waspish, conservative but loving Aunt Hilda.

    Hilda tries to mold Lottie into an ordinary acceptable conformist traditional girl, but Lottie is quietly supported by her father in her unusual interests. Lottie sees the corpses that she so lovingly gathers with an artist’s eye, marvelling at their beauty of form, texture and colour. She makes friends with Jeffrey, an aboriginal boy, at school. He too doesn’t quite fit in as he is adopted by a European family and is not quite accepted by his classmates.
    As Lottie reaches puberty and still continues her interest in collecting and preserving dead animals her behaviour becomes accepted as a legitimate calling and not as an aberration brought on by grief and loss.
    This is a difficult subject to write about, but Kernot creates a poignant and vivid tale through her spare emotionally charged language. Her carefully delineated scenes whether outside in the heat and dryness of the Australian landscape or the warm interior of a German living room resonate with intense feeling. Scattered throughout the book are small internal illustrations by Edith Rewa which are a delicate counterpoint to the poetry. The beautiful cover reminiscent of a medieval still life also deserves praise.

    This gradually unfolding story is a moving elegy on grief but is ultimately uplifting. Lottie’s passion and resilience, the love of her family, the beauty of the Australian fauna and flora all interwoven into a touching and deeply satisfying read, well-deserving its shortlisted place for the Text prize.

    Reviewed by Mia Macrossan

    Related Posts

    Battlefield

    Gilded

    An Arrow to the Moon

    1 Comment

    1. Pingback: Announcing the 2019 CBCA Book of the Year Notable Lists - Reading Time

    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    • Themes
    • Curriculum
    Action adventure Airplanes Alphabet Anxiety autism Bullying CBCA Awards Coming of age Dystopian emotions family fantasy friendship grief Historical humour magic Mystery Post apocalyptic Readers Cup reluctant readers school Sci-Fi series of books siblings Sport Starting school Teacher Notes
    ANZAC Australian animals Australian history Biography Culture & Diversity Disabilities First Nations Geography health Humanities mental health Poetry Reconciliation resilience Science STEM Stolen Generation sustainability Wordless books



    Recent Comments
    • Barbara on The Secret of Sapling Green
    • Cherie on Elephant Island
    • Patricia Tilton on Freddy the Not-Teddy
    • Jilanne Hoffmann on Freddy the Not-Teddy
    • Penelope Pratley on The Secret of Sapling Green
    Recent Posts
    • Battlefield
    • The Calling of Jackdaw Hollow
    • The Bush Birds
    • Star of Anise
    • Spotlight Please…It’s Stevie Louise
    Recent Comments
    • Barbara on The Secret of Sapling Green
    • Cherie on Elephant Island
    • Patricia Tilton on Freddy the Not-Teddy
    • Jilanne Hoffmann on Freddy the Not-Teddy
    • Penelope Pratley on The Secret of Sapling Green
    © Copyright 2021 The Children’s Book Council of Australia - All rights reserved

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.