The incredible freedom machines by Kirli Saunders
Ill. by Matt Ottley. Scholastic, 2018. ISBN 9781760275228
(Age: 4+) Highly recommended. Themes: Imagination. Invention.
Freedom. Freedom wrought through her imagination gives this young
girl a chance to see the world and all of its wonders, escaping from
the camp where she lives. Her inventiveness soars as she brings to
life machines, evolving from the soil she stands on, building to
fantastic machines, ready to take her where she wants to go.
Sometimes it is too windy for the machine to fly, sometimes too wet
as it leaks, but when she does soar into the clouds, she finds the
most amazing things: worlds which sing with their abundance and
variety, worlds which make her entire, worlds which give her
everything she needs.
Whether her home is a refugee camp or hamlet on the edge of town,
the ideas are there: that imagination will take you out of your
situation, showing you possibilities undreamed of, allowing you to
find another way.
Ottley's oil illustrations are just breathtaking as they take the
eye across each page. Most sweep over the double pages, but several
are limited to boxes showing a progression of events as the girl
waits for her ideas to evolve. Matt Ottley is a much awarded
illustrator, his paintings so full of imagination and verve, that
readers will gasp as they turn the pages of his books. Readers will
pore over the inventive machines, drinking in the details, running
their hands over the pages and absorbing the wonderful endpapers,
full of sketches and ideas used in his work.
Kirli Saunders is a proud Gunai woman with ties to the Yuin,
Gundungurra, Gadigal and Biripi people. Kirli is the Manager of
Poetic Learning and Aboriginal Cultural Liaison at Red Room Poetry
in Sydney. She was awarded 'Worker of the Year 2017' at the NAIDOC
awards, and is a storyteller and poet. This is her first picture
book, sure to be the first of many.
The two, author and illustrator have been imaginatively paired to
produce a magnificent book of possibilities.
Fran Knight