Boy

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Author: Phil Cummings
Illustrator: Shane Devries
Publisher: Lindfield, N.S.W.: Scholastic Australia 2017






Written from the cultural view of disability, Boy celebrates deafness as a visual way of being. It relates the story of a loud and mighty, ongoing battle between a king and a dragon that was incited childishly by dragons burning the forests on the king’s territories with an accidental sneeze. The constant presence of pink and purple-hued skies in illustrations signify the endlessness of a situation in which neither side lose nor advance until a tiny determined deaf boy enters the scene, uses a simultaneous combination of sign language and sand-drawing to resolve the conflict between the two ‘hearing’ sides of the battle.

The issue- oriented story-line employed in the picture book does not impede with Cummings’ masterful characterization of his tiny protagonist within the limited scope of a children book. The boy, though not given a proper name is effectively characterized in terms of his distinguishing traits like his being happily independent of his physical restraint, and his non-verbal skills that enable him to communicate with a “puzzled”, “flabbergasted” and “mystified” audience. This picture book is a real delight with inspiring and literary tone.

For more information:
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