GETTING STARTED

Overview

'All the animals were happy at the farm, except the donkey.' The other animals don't have much time for the donkey, especially the bull. In his stable the donkey dreams of walking along a great road to where magic will be. Later, the other animals follow the donkey on his quest. The donkey ends up in front of a stone statue of a man and another donkey. They hear about the statue donkey's time at war, serving and saving others, and then they realise what magic is.

When the donkey and other animals arrive home, after looking after each other on the way, their relationships and attitudes have changed. 'All the animals were happy at the farm – especially the donkey.'

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Author profile

Celeste Walters is most well known for her book The Killing of Mud-Eye for young adults. She has also written other young adult novels: Deception, The Glass Mountain and The Last Race.

She has had a varied career, including acting in a children's theatre, teaching in primary and secondary schools, lecturing at Deakin University and being an art gallery director.

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Illustrator profile

Patricia Mullins is best known for her collage illustrations made of tissue paper. Her illustrations for the books Dinosaur Encore, V is for Vanishing, Crocodile Beat and Hattie and the Fox are contemporary classics for Australian children. Most of these books have won or been shortlisted for awards in Australia and overseas. V is for Vanishing won the 1994 Eve Pownall Award for Information Books (Children's Book Council of Australia).

Patricia didn't really like books and reading when she was a girl. She spent most of her time drawing. She has studied puppetry and made puppets, and she is now especially interested in old rocking horses.

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Useful websites

• Australian War Memorial
  www.awm.gov.au (also follow the links to the Lone Pine virtual diorama)
• Shrine of Remembrance
  www.shrine.org.au

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Focus questions

Before reading the book

• What do you know about the statue of the two men and the donkey on the cover?
• What do you think the donkey is thinking?
• How has the picture on the cover been drawn? Think about medium (materials such as crayons, pencils or paint), colour and composition (where the viewer is looking at the picture from, how far away the donkey and statue are from the viewer, framing - what is around the main subject of the picture?)
• What do you think the title means?
• What do you think might happen to the donkey on the cover? What other stories do you know about donkeys?

During and after reading the book

• What do you learn about the donkey's relationship with the other animals?
• What do you think the magic is?
• Why do the other animals change?
• What is important about the statue donkey's story?
• What do you learn about war from this book?

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