Mavis: The little plane spotter by Angela Toniolo. Illus. by Shannon Melville

It's World War Two and Darwin has been bombed. Families have built trenches for air raid shelters and the tension is high. Mavis wants to help the war effort, but what can a ten-year-old girl do? She has her answer when a soldier comes to her school looking for volunteers to be plane spotters.

And so, along with her older sister Doreen. as members of the Volunteer Air Observers Corps, every Saturday they climb the stairs of the town clock tower armed with binoculars and pictures of enemy bombers to record the times they are spotted and the direction they are flying. On one Saturday, when Mavis is working by herself she spots one of the planes in her pictures... Does she have what it takes to save the town?

Based on real people and true events, this is a story that not only exposes a little-known piece of Australia's civil defence, but introduces today's readers to the lives of children in the past, those who are perhaps their own relatives - as Doreen and Mavis are for the author. Imagine living with the fear of being bombed every day - although sensitive teachers will need to be aware of any triggers this may pose for those who have escaped just that, while at the same time helping children have a better understanding of what some of their classmates might have lived through. However, rather than dwelling on that fear, this is more a story of how a community came together at a time of need - as it so often does - and determination, resilience, and the power of little acts, even those done by children, can make such a difference. The illustrations capture this moment in time perfectly, offering the modern reader a glimpse of what their life might have been like had they been born into that era when there were no phones and screens to entertain. What did the children do?

With ANZAC Day on the horizon, this is an opportunity to explore a little-known part of Australia's wartime history that will span all age groups.

Themes: World War, 1939-1945, Responsibility.

Barbara Braxton