The dam by David Almond
Ill. by Levi Pinfold. Walker Studio, 2018. ISBN 9781406304879
(Age: all) Highly recommended. Themes: Conservation, Environment,
Music, Dams, Loss, Hope, Picture book for older readers. Based on a
true story told to Almond by musicians Kathryn and Mike Tickells, The
dam celebrates the power of the human spirit and the beauty of
music. In the 1980's, the largest artificial lake in the UK, was
formed. Farms and houses were submerged and a village drowned, as
the Keilder Valley was dammed and allowed to fill with water over
the following two years. This wild and beautiful part of North
Northumberland would be inundated. But before this happened a father
and his daughter visited each of the houses in turn, the girl
playing her fiddle and the father singing for the last time within
the walls.
This part of England is well known for its rich musical history and
the work done by the girl and her father heralded the importance of
music to the people whose houses were disappearing. Their music
evoked the very essence of the houses and the people, ensuring its
survival. The lake is now a beautiful place, full of history and
music which can never be stilled. While the past can be mourned, the
present remembers the past through the music which can still be
heard, if people stop to listen. Behind the dam Within the water
the music stays, Will never be gone.
Beautifully illustrated by Queensland illustrator, Levi Pinfold,
this poignant picture book will stay with readers as they think
about change and its impact on us all. The musicians and their music
come alive on the pages, the love for music shining through the
pages, with people singing and dancing on the banks of the lake as
the music is celebrated even though the landscape has undergone
incredible change.
This is an unforgettable picture book, with author and illustrator
combining to give the reader a story full of the sadness of change,
but using music to garner the forces which remind us of what has
gone before, impelling us never to forget. The luminous
illustrations, sepia at first, adds more blue to the palette as the
story gathers force, reminding us that although change happens, the
past can be remembered and celebrated through music.
The sweeping vistas of the Northumberland landscape will astound the
readers, their brooding vastness there to be seen and almost touched
in these illustrations. The wonderful squat stone houses, empty for
the rising water are gorgeously portrayed, redolent of the past and
now filled with music waiting for the inundation. A book to savour.
Fran Knight