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CM . . . .
Volume V Number 4 . . . . October 16, 1998
The stories, themselves, are extremely varied, beginning with a
light-hearted suggestion of how the organization got its name,
and finishing with the legend of the Rainbow Warrior, the name
given to Greenpeace's ship on which so many protest missions have
been carried out. The first story is a pseudo-Arthurian tale
("Dragon Soup" by Anthony Horowitz, illustrated by Quentin
Blake), the main point of which, other than a few sideswipes at
polluting "city folks" and those who feel they must kill what
they don't understand, is its shaggy-dog-like punch line. Between
these bookends of reference to Greenpeace and its ship, there is
a dark tale ("Long Wing" by Elizabeth Laird, illustrated by Alan
Lee), the life story of an albatross whose mate is drowned as she
takes a hook carelessly baited with semi-frozen and, therefore,
buoyant fish; an apocalyptic story of the end of civilization ("Singer from the Desert Came" by Jamila Gavin, illustrated by
Peter Sis); another of a young girl's determination to stop
people dumping polluted sludge into a stream near her home ("In a
House Built Out of Dragonfly Wings" by Tim Wynne-Jones,
illustrated by P.J. Lynch), and a dream-like account of
burned-over land in Australia crying for salvation and rebirth
("Shock Forest" by Margaret Mahy, with pictures by Robert
Ingpen).
Beyond the Rainbow Warrior is a collection of good stories,
well told, with a wide variety of settings and points of view,
and, although the basic message comes through very clearly - that
careless selfishness will destroy our world - the stories are
*stories*, not sermons. Greenpeace has developed a powerful
voice; this collection will spread its influence among the young.
Highly recommended.
Mary Thomas, who has worked for nine years in libraries in the
Winnipeg School Division No. 1, is now on leave in Oxford with
her husband for a year.
To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.
Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association.
Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice
is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without
permission.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THIS ISSUE - OCTOBER 16, 1998.
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Michael Morpurgo, who commissioned these stories, subtitled "A
Collection of Stories to Celebrate 25 years of Greenpeace,"
requested them from an international group of authors and
illustrators, almost all of whom are household words in the world
of children's literature. Somewhat surprisingly, given that
Greenpeace was established in the United States, there are no
American authors represented here, and Tim Wynne-Jones is the
sole Canadian. I did not, however, get the impression that this
was a political statement - it just happened.