Description
Dust Makers is a collection of short stories about our impact on the world around us. With a focus on simple sustainability, care for the environment and for each other, these stories consider the impact we have on the spaces we live in and the legacy we leave for the future. We want it to be about our consideration of what is around us and what we leave for the future. We want the stories to be contemporary, historical or futuristic with consideration of the impact we make on our environment and on one another.
Review
This is an enthralling collection of short stories all with the theme of sustainability and our impact on the world.
Some memorable stories for me were:
A Constant Forgetting - where we witness Matthias’ struggle against the establishment where everything is done to enhance people’s beauty, regardless of the cost.
Holding the Spring - where the teachers are leading a protest to allow people to know what the world was like “before”, to remember nature and a world that was full of life.
Invasion - where we see the huge impact that a small careless action can have on a thriving ecosystem and Before the Dust Makers where we see a similar result but this time through clearing the land.
How to Convert a Kingswood - which shows the possibilities through reuse and recycling and Ends and Beginnings that shows what can happen to the planet when the warning signs are ignored.
But my favourite was The Aria of the Ocean that follows the journey of 13-year-old Robert, who gets a job as a ship boy to follow his father who had been sent to Sydney Cove as a convict. Upon seeing a whale and her calf up close on the journey, and then discovering that the ship’s next trip was to go whaling, Robert flees the ship—but he still owes them 18 months of service. Luckily he reconnects with his father, and dreams of the ongoing freedom and safety of the whales.
With the important themes of sustainability and our environment, broken down into short but impactful stories, this book is suitable for all those aged 14 and older.
Reviewed by Rob
Teacher Notes prepared by the publisher are available for this title on our website.
