Dust

Colin Thompson (author) 

Illustrators - various

ABC Books, Australia: 2007

ISBN: 9780733320736

Note: extension concepts

Genre: picture book

Issues: famine, global responsibility, poverty, social responsibility 

There are no two ways about it; this is a very distressing book. It wrenches at the heart and if you are human you should ache with the pain of the story by the time you turn the last page. Dust was inspired by the humanitarian disaster that occurred in Niger, Africa, in 2005, where drought and locusts led to food shortages that affected 63% of the population.

‘I died last night. Seventy years too young.'

Thus begins this emotive, evocative, conscience-pricking cry from the heart. Fourteen different illustrators contributed their work to convey the hopelessness, the waste, the terrible loss of life that we, who have so much by comparison, often forget about because we don't know what to do. Thompson challenges us to remember, to hold in our hearts and imaginations the loss to humanity that occurs when we ignore such disasters or become immune to or complacent about the devastation of other's lives.

This book will upset readers, especially the sensitive and gifted, but buy it anyway. The writing is lyrical, the illustrations unforgettable - without being distressingly graphic - and all royalties go to Save the Children Fund. It is a text that can be shared with an individual or a class, used to discuss social issues and the concept of global responsibility.

Highly recommended.