NOTE: This fourth title in the Those Kids series was released world-wide in September 2018. It was shortlisted (as one of the top three Australasian entries) for the Environment Award for Children’s Literature, as well as awarded LIFE (Literature for Environment) status.
When three Tasmanian children meet a couple of home-alone kids who live on an old barge in New Zealand’s Bay of Islands, they soon find themselves heavily involved in an environmental battle with one of the local oyster-farmers. The outcome is a triumph of lateral thinking, and a signal to youngsters everywhere that it is possible to bring about positive change in the world – even at a local scale.
A fast-paced boating adventure which brings the Ransome genre squarely into the 21st century and promises to capture the imagination of even the most reluctant young reader.
BACKGROUND:
Years ago, exploring an inlet in New Zealand’s far north in a borrowed Heron sailing dinghy, we chanced upon an old 90 foot sugar-barge house-boat dragged up amongst the mangroves. Two confident youngsters, about twelve years of age, were living aboard alone whilst their father was away for a few days. I vividly recall how they showed us their fire-heated outside bath-tub, and explained how the high tides occasionally flooded above the floor-boards.
It has always been my intention to weave this background into a children’s book, and at last have put an environmentally themed tale together in this setting. Into it I have woven a number of other memories, such as the big wooden launch that was once moored near us in Wellington harbour with two home-schooled kids aboard. Their parents came from a background in computer programming and had schooled their children strongly on mathematical and political material, but it was a shock to discover that neither child could write legibly, as their entire education was keyboard driven.
I had been keeping David Bamford’s lovely old ketch in reserve for one of my books, and hope I have done him (and the wooden vessel that he had spent years restoring) justice in this depiction of his namesake. David is an avid Arthur Ransome fan too, and his yacht was already named Swallow when he purchased her, but I couldn’t resist re-painting her black in this tale, as befits the vessel of an old retired pirate.
In addition there was Percival, a self-confident black-backed seagull who cheerfully hopped onto our sailing friends’ galley bench seeking food-scraps for a number of years. Percival became my embodiment of the many marine-dwelling creatures who have fallen victim to the ever-growing flood of plastics choking our waterways. In the waterway where we are currently moored aboard our own black ketch (not far from the original sugar-barge) an obvious example is plain to see on every beach – hundreds of plastic pegs discarded from the oyster farms which dominate many of the shallow bays. I have used these pegs as a catalyst for the conflict between a marine farmer and the young environmental pirates within the plot-line.
As for the lifestyle of the three Tasmanian kids – my own Kiwi children have lived exactly this way, sailing off for a year or longer with all their schoolwork in boxes, plotting expeditions, camping on deserted islands and living a lifestyle similar to Arthur Ransome’s ‘Swallows and Amazons’ kids.
I’m aware that some readers may feel that I haven’t done justice to the local Maori children (the Ikatere kids) but rest assured that they feature more prominently in the sequel). We once lived in a Marae-based school community for several years, and I have already touched on indigenous wisdom through references to Zac and Tania’s grandfather in Those Shipwreck Kids and Those Eco-Pirate Kids. So I hope that readers enjoy the content!
Jon has visited a number of New Zealand schools in the Enviro-school network during the past year, and have been truly impressed at the resourcefulness and environmental awareness of the current generation of youngsters. I hope that the final chapters of this book reflect the ability of children throughout the world to take steps – however small or local – to bring about changes for the good of our planet.
