Waiting for later by Tina Matthews
Walker Books Australia, 2011. ISBN 9781921720055.
(Ages 5+) Picture book. Warmly recommended. When Nancy goes searching
for someone to ply with her or read her a story, or play cards, or give
her a swing or tickle her, she is rebuffed by them all. Mother and
father are too busy, her brother is cooking, her aunt hanging out the
clothes and grandfather is busy mowing the lawn. All tell her that they
are too busy and to come back later. Later is the refrain on each page
as Nancy looks for companionship. Instead she climbs a tree, finding
that the leaves tell her a story and the limbs allow her to swing fro
them, and the leaves tickle her as she swings. All the things she
wanted from the others she is getting for herself in the tree.
The story promotes several messages with an underlying subtlety.
Parents and family ignore the child to the detriment of all. Many
students reading this will tell stories of how their parents have not
enough time for them, and the story asks people to re-evaluate their
time spent with their children. But Nancy finds she is able to
fend for herself, able to fill in her time by herself, able to occupy
herself without the family. This too will be a telling discussion point
with students. What is there that they can do by themselves? Do they
need an adult or older sibling with them? But like all good stories,
the family is reunited at the end, each learning something that will
enhance family life.
Each page is illustrated using a Japanese woodblock technique giving
the story a grounding in the familiar, the home and garden. Shown in
wonderful detail, the illustrations beg the reader to notice and talk
about what they see. The New Zealand author, Tina Matthews, a
passionate promoter of the Free Range Kids movement seeks to advance
her cause in the best of ways, through a simple and warm hearted story
of a family.
Fran Knight