The Short But Incredibly Happy Life of Riley

Colin Thompson (author)

Amy Lissiat (illus)

Lothian Books, Australia: 2005

ISBN: 0734408064

Genres: alleogry, picture book

Issues: social condition, values

CBCA Picture Book of the Year, 2006.

‘Everyone wants to live forever.' Thus begins this whimsical commentary on human nature and our constant desire for more - food, fame, fortune, immortality.

Rats, on the other hand, live for a comparatively short time and their needs and wants are few. Perhaps, Thompson suggests, the human race could learn a few things! Long strings of run-together hyphenated words are used to batter the reader with compound images of human greed, contrasting starkly with the simple sentences used to describe Riley's minimal needs and desires.

This moralistic tale is accompanied by somewhat surreal illustrations that capture both the cheerful naivety of Riley the rat and the darker, needier elements of human nature. References to great works of art will amuse more experienced readers as they have been borrowed and distorted to great effect using Photoshop. Other images have an almost visceral nature, at times conveying rather repulsive or off-putting interpretations of human consumption, especially of food.

Perhaps too cynical and sophisticated for younger readers, this is a picture book for teenagers, one that will integrate well with environmental and social studies about consumerism.

NB: Amy Lissiat is an alias for Colin Thompson