Apsaro Baldovino (text) and Jennifer Falkner (illustrator) The Lucky Shack, Working Title Press, July 2023, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781922033154
It’s not often that a house tells a story in the first person. Even Virginia Lee Burton’s classic, The Little House, relays the story about its house in the third person. This lovely picture book shows us a waterfront timber fisherman’s cottage lovingly tended and maintained by its elderly owner. Beautiful colours of blue and green surround the shack with the grass, meadows, sea and sky.
One day, everything turns black. There is a massive storm, and the fisherman no longer appears. The little shack’s paint stars to peel, its roof sags and it becomes quite dilapidated. Sending signals by flicking its lights on and off and tossing a window shutter into the ocean doesn’t bring anyone to help. Until one day, a different fishing boat appears, and a young fisherwoman enters the house. Over time, she lovingly repairs and furnishes him and best of all, she eventually brings children and a cat!
This beautiful book has lots of subliminal messages for the reader to explore. What happened to the fisherman? Who is the young lady? How did she find out about the house? The watercolour and photoshop illustrations show the beauty of the shack’s surroundings and how quickly the weather can change. The little house is also given abstract facial expressions with the placement of its windows and door handle.
The text by debut author Apsara Baldovino is well-written with lilting language placed in different positions around the illustrations. This is a gentle book which nevertheless does not shy away from topics like death and the cycle of life. Ideal for young readers.
Reviewed by Lynne Babbage
