Memorial

by Gary Crew, Shaun Tan (Illustrator)

Simply Read Books

Genres: Picture Books, War, Childrens, Family, Historical Fiction, Graphic Novels, Art

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Dr Gary Crew, author of novels, short stories and picture books for older children and young adults, began his writing career in 1985, when he was a high school teacher. His books are challenging and intriguing, often based on non-fiction. As well as writing fiction, Gary is a Associate Professor in Creative Writing, Children's and Adult Literature, at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland and editor of the After Dark series.

He lives with his wife Christine on several acres in the cool, high mountains of the Sunshine Coast Hinterland in Queensland, Australia in a house called 'Green Mansions' which is shaded by over 200 Australian rainforest palms he has cultivated. He enjoys gardening, reading, and playing with his dogs Ferris, Beulah, and Miss Wendy. In his spare time he has created an Australian Rainforest Garden around his home, filled with Australian palms. Gary loves to visit antique shops looking for curios and beautiful objects.

Gary Crew has been awarded the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the year four times: twice for Book of the Year for Young Adult Older Readers (Strange Objects in 1991 and Angel’s Gate in 1993) and twice for Picture Book of the Year with First Light in 1993 (illustrated by Peter Gouldthorpe) and The Watertower (illustrated by Steven Woolman) in 1994. Gary’s illustrated book, Memorial (with Shaun Tan) was awarded the Children’s Book Council of Australia Honour Book in 2000 and short listed for the Queensland Premier’s Awards. He has also won the Wilderness Society Award, the Whitley Award and the Aurealis Award for Speculative Fiction.

In the USA he has been twice short listed for the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Mystery Fiction Award for Youth and the Hungry Minds Review American Children’s Book of distinction. In Europe he has twice been and twice the prestigious White Raven Award for his illustrated books. Among his many Australian awards is the Ned Kelly Prize for Crime Fiction, the New South Wales Premier’s Award and the Victorian Premier’s Award. He has been short listed for both the Queensland Premier’s and the Western Australian Premier’s awards for Fiction.

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love finding books new to me in the library, and to find another book illustrated by Shaun Tan is a marvelous surprise. Here is a beauty of a book, filled with Tan’s gorgeous painting/collages of different wars in America, spoken about through the memories of a young boy, his great-grandfather, grandfather and father. The problem discussed is the town tree, planted long ago after World War I, but now uprooting a permanent statue, obstructing the view of traffic, and taking up too much space. You’ll need to find and read the book to discover what happens to the tree, but the resolution is satisfying. Memories throughout the story and in the illustrations hover as memories do, through small pictures and large spreads, adding much from the times in which the tree lived and the people it saw. This will be a great book to use in a study of wars as well as things changing.

[Zohal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was in the library for a lesson and I had some free time at the end of the lesson. I saw this picture book on one of the stands. The minute I saw the authors names I grabbed it. I love Gary Crew's stories. I've loved his works such as The Watertower, Beneath the Surface, Old Ridley and Caleb. I also read The Arrival by Shaun Tan, so when I saw they had done a collaborative work I couldn't stop myself from devouring it within seconds.

This was such a beautiful story. It was so simple and the illustrations really created dynamic for the story. It really emphasised the significance of Anzac Day to us Australians. I felt this book did exceptionally well in delivering an important lesson to all of its readers. A lesson that is different depending on who reads it.

Highly recommend! :) :D

[Charlotte · Rating 2 out of 5]

At first memorial seemed almost like a scrap book with simple recollections of stories told to a child. However afte we read into the book more, we saw the book as implying the message of whether we should focus on looking at the memories we have in our heads or physically represent them. The themes within the book focus on war and memories. The reader would possibly need to know about events which happened within the war, to understand key events. However saying this, I do not know an awful lot about this war and still understood the book.
The story within the book is placed within a scrap book appearance which signifies the theme of memorie throughout the book. This adds a personal element to the book and makes you understand that the story focuses on the past of someone close to the main character. The pictures accompany the books by showing key events which are going on . I think even without the words this book would work as the pictures explain themselves quite well, except a few pages.

[Kel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful collaboration between Gary Crew (author) and Shaun Tan (artist), centered around the planting, growth and eventual destruction of a Morton Bay Fig tree, planted in memorial of those lost in World War One. The story spans generations and wars, in a captivating format of drawn photos merging with faces, paintings and timelines, of seedlings and flying bugs, the words and pictures a stunning memorial of the fallen and gives an honest glimpse of what ANZAC Day means to many Australians.

For some pages and Tan's comments on the book, see http://www.shauntan.net/books/memoria...

[Bec · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book as a realistic look at 4 generations of return soldiers - each one participating in a different war explaining to the youngest member of the family about the Morton Bay Fig that was planted as a memorial for the returned soldiers from World War I, and the memories each person had of this tree, down to the fight to stop it getting cut down. It discusses the value of memories and the question of do we need a physical object to act as a reminder.
The book which has been richly illustrated by the master - Shaun Tan is a great way of explaining things to younger children.

[Sulis Peri Hutan · Rating 4 out of 5]

review lengkap http://www.kubikelromance.com/2015/12...


Then he smile and says, 'still, that don't mean they'll forget you. it's the fight in you they'll remember. that memory won't die - not like my old bones. even concrete and rock won't last forever. but memories, now they're different. memories, they're ever-livin' things. like you say, son, like our tree...'

[Miss Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a stone monument memorial vs natural living memorial conflict! When one's got to go it reminds me of 'Parade's End' which mentions an aristocrat's stately manor (Groby) threatened by a tree. The tree holds significance too. In both stories, it's the tree that is destroyed. Obviously, the key message is that even if one of the memorials goes, the memories themselves can't be taken. They are ours to cherish. I love the page listing all the negatives of the tree. You can just hear folks complaining about the tree: "It's lifting the bitumen...it drops seeds on cars...obscures the traffic lights" Opposite the words memories are "ever-livin' things" is an illustration of a young boy discovering the remains of the tree, the stump revealing all its history in its concentric circles. The boy kneels on top peering at the very beginnings - the central circle.

[Luis Flores · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is about a family that is talking about a tree that was planted along with a statue that place was placed next to it as a memorial for solders of the war. The grandfather was there when the tree was placed, the father and the mother were use to play in the tree, the father also remembers visiting the statue when he came back from Vietnam war. Overall the significance of the tree and the statue is more than just a tree and a statue for many people. The visuals are eye catching, sometimes the pictures appear to be hand drawn, sometimes they appear as if they are photographs. While other scenes appear as if you are looking out a window. Towards the end we do not see that window effect anymore, instead we see scenes.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has absolutely beautiful illustrations including actual pictures, realistic drawings, and beautiful artwork. The book also sends such an amazing message, that this family, everyone has a connection to this tree and the youngest, the child, wants to fight for the tree to stay. It also sends a message of how important it is to keep memorials in their place. Especially in America, we have the idea that we need everything to be reinvented and new every 20 years, which is totally wrong. It is so amazing to see a children's book fighting for the integrity of memorials and town structures/areas.

[Cheriee Weichel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Make this 4 1/2 stars. When men come back from World War I a statue of an unknown soldier is erected, and a small tree is planted in memory of those who served and didn’t return. Three generations remember their return from war ceremonies under the tree. A child from the fourth generation does his best to save the tree from being cut down.
This is best for older readers as the text and images are complex and require close attention to understand the message. Just like war itself, this has an unhappy ending.

[Ailsa Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Memorial" by Gary Crew is a portrait book with borders that include leaves, taps, pictures and tiles with designed. The illustrations goes within two pages and the text appears on random objects. The story itself tells the story of a family and their community, as the grandpa comes back from WWI and plants a tree. The tree itself is a memorial of the struggles each family member has gone through. Although the tree may be cut down the memories with the tree for each family member survives.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This books illustrations what definitely something new and interesting i've never seen before. It was a full bleed book but with seperate illustrations in boarders. Every pages art layout was different. Some pages it would take up the whole two pages with very little illustrations. I honestly don't like how this book is set up. The drawing are also boring and seem to be made on with technology but i'm not sure.

[Sean Harding · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another cracking good read from Crew, who deceives with his seemingly normal picture books, which actually are a world of beauty and mystery, or wonder and sadness, and inspiration. This one whilst more grounded in the real world, has a whole range of emotions, and brings up issues to discuss, all in a shore picture book. Crew is a genius!

[Alejandro Villa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the structure of this. Its formatted like a picture book in the beginning pages grasping the moments of the past all bundle up an eye opening story. Also, I enjoy the story going along written in an illustration of old pieces of papers. Its as if they were little notes on the side that lead to the big plot of they story. Such an enjoyable book to read or listen to.

[Freddie D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shaun Tan's illustrations... I mean, WOW. Moving slowly through the pages of this book is akin to visiting an exhibition at an art gallery. Immersive, powerful and beautiful. A lovely book that connects various intergenerational and wartime memories all linked to a beautiful (but inevitably doomed) tree.

[Andy Hickman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Memorial, Gary Crew, Shaun Tan
Tree planted in 1918 to remember fallen soldiers, but the tree is now causing disruptions to infrastructure. How are we best to respond to these situations? Tan’s unique illustrations are always delightful. ***

[Graziano · Rating 3 out of 5]

I ricordi, invece, sono diversi. I ricordi sono immortali.
Come dici tu, figliolo, come il nostro albero...
(al centrO)

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book stopped me in my tracks ... both words and pictures are haunting and beautiful and so relevant to now

[ashes ➷ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Shaun Tan so much... such a short, soft story, and yet so powerful. Crew's words and Tan's art combine perfectly; would strongly recommend for anyone who likes gorgeous children's books.

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

As this review is primarily for 50books_poc, it's going to focus on the illustrations by Shaun Tan. Having said that, the story (comments by three generations of a family on the importance of the Moreton Bay Fig that forms part of the town's war memorial, now threatened by 'progress') is stunning, and raises multiple issues/discussion points that my small group at the Hebrew Scriptures intensive I did recently had a great deal of fun discussing.

The illustrations, though - oh, the illustrations. Shaun Tan, what can you say? In this book he has a number of full-page, wordless spreads, and he makes the most of each of them. The most startling and the one that makes the most impression (from my perspective) is the one that immediately follows the clearest statement of "You can't fight City Hall". To the far right of the spread is the memorial statue, a soldier standing over his rifle, as they do at an ANZAC Day service at each corner of any War Memorial in the country. Across the rest of the page drift leaves. You can imagine the leaves drifting across in a winter wind, or more ominously, flying across the statue from where the chainsaws have attacked the Fig tree.

Although the book calls (as you can probably tell) on some incredibly Australian images of memorialisation and the recollection of war (the WWI spread may be more generally iconic, however), I think it would have a fairly universal appeal, at least within the Commonwealth and ex-Commonwealth/British Empire nations. (That said, Australia has a particular relationship with each of the three wars mentioned (the two World Wars, and the Vietnam War) that would not necessarily resonate in the same way in the USA, for example.)

In any event, the illustrations don't just complement the text, they extend it. They bring the issues of progress, environment, memorialisation and war into far more stark relief than the words can do alone. Like all of Tan's work, it is utterly awesome, and so layered and complex that every reading will reveal something further. Shaun Tan is a national treasure, and the sooner Australia in general realises this, the better.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite having come across Gary Crew's work previously, I must confess it was Shaun Tan's involvement that made me pick this book up off the shelves. The marriage of the two of them in producing this is what ensured I did not replace it at the shop but left, rather guiltily feeling that I should not be spending money on children's books when there were so many other important things I needed. Each time I read it there is confirmation that I did the right thing.
In Australia, each generation has been touched by war, and this book reminds us of that. It starts at the end of World War I, and Great-Grandfather's return, where a tree was planted to celebrate those who returned and commemorate those they lost at Ypres. Essentially the celebration was the unveiling of the statue of the Unknown Soldier, a statue still visible in most Australian towns, but the link with the living tree, rather than the dead soldier, is part of what makes this book so engrossing. Each generation in the boy's family has a link with the tree through courtship, memorial services, and always celebrations of return from each subsequent war. Unfortunately the significance is no longer realised by the Council, who take to it with chainsaws, but it is the Great-Grandfather who reminds us that it is memories that are important: "But memories, now they're different. Memories, they're ever-livin' things. Like you say, son, like our tree..." Tan's last illustration reminds us of the importance of seeding the memories for future generations.
I suspect that this book will be used repeatedly in schools prior to ANZAC commemorations each year, and I hope that teachers do it full justice. Well-crafted language and thought-provoking illustrations are complemented by what is not said. There is so much that has been left open to discussion and so many ways in which to plant those memory seeds in the children of our future.

[Sara Berrafato · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my second Author Study Book Review. Memorial by Gary Crew, illustrated by Shaun Tan, is the story of a boy who is learning about war from the perspective of his father, grandfather, and great grandfather. Throughout the story, the author reveals that a memorial statue or memorial tree may have to be torn down within a small community and even though it is terrible, the boy realizes that what lasts is the memory. Through the simple story and vivid images, the reader learns the importance of stories and memories to the legacy of a person or event. This book is appropriate for ages 7 and up because the content is relatable—younger children can relate to hearing stories from their grandparents and older children can learn about history and how if effects society. Teachers can use this text as a historical piece in the classroom and have students understand the personal side of war. It can also be used as a mentor text to model how students can write about their own memories from varying perspectives. Memorial is a great and relatable story for classroom audiences.

[Jack Kirby and the X-man · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a touching tribute to the small-town war memorial.

It represents what was a very small window of opportunity for a young boy to hear and understand the stories of his great-grandfather (World War I), grandfather (World War II) and father (Vietnam War) centred around their return from war and the celebrations that occured at the war memorial. With just one World War I survivor still with us in Australia the opportunity for a real-life version of this story is just about gone...

Shaun Tan has as always done a fantastic job on the illustrations. I was a little disappointed that the World War I medals were only indicative and not historically accurate (well at least not the medals that all Australian World War I veterans were awarded)

[Mary Refalo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Memorial is a war story that traces the involvement in war of the male members of one Australian family through the 20th Century. Acclaimed Australian picture-book writers and illustrators, Gary Crew and Shaun Tan, use significant motifs on which to pivot the retrospective story of the young protagonist's great-grandfather, grandfather and father. The key element of the narrative is the future of the war memorials, both living and concrete, in the centre of the town square. Memorial is a picture book that is rich in written and visual language, making it a useful text for a deep study of this genre. The combination of written dialogue and illustrated 'photographs' provides a solid platform for interesting discussion and development of students' inference skills. Suitable for all Stage 4 readers, this picture book would make a likely companion to Photographs in the Mud by Dianne Wolfer and Brian Harrison-Lever.

[MaryKathryn Lambert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book as I learned the meaning behind a tree that to anyone else would be just a tree but to this old man it symbolizes him returning home from the war. The tree will soon be gone and this is great to read in the classroom so that students understand that even after something is gone you should hold on to the memories you have.

[Kelli Ryne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This artistic and beautifully told story allows students to approach a dialogue about memorials-- why do we have them, what is their purpose, how do they differ? Each character has a different relationship to the memorial which can be examined in studying criticisms and support of the Vietnam Memorial if studying that particular war. Students can compare and contrast memorials, discuss what they say about a national conscious of war and collective memory. Students may also use it in order to do an analysis of local memorials, such as the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial here in Atlanta. Students may ask critical questions, such as whether a memorial has to be in memory of a war or something large, or does it serve a smaller, communal purpose? This book allows students to really delve and may give them ideas of memorials they themselves can create.

[Mr G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Difficult to understand the first time, but after reading carefully a few times more the links start to become clearer. Provokes thinking about the importance of physical places for memorial purposes. Are memories best left treasured in our minds? Should we sacrifice places of great importance to individuals? Do the needs of many outweigh the needs of the few? After all, the tree was there first...

The reader may need to have some understanding of when the World Wars took place, and their dates along a timeline.

Themes are of memory and war.

The layout was like a scrap book which allowed different areas of the page to be used for various purposes. This helps to draw the audience into certain contexts and times to aid understanding, especially with how the words are placed among the page.

[Soobie is expired · Rating 3 out of 5]

Non so.

Ho preso questo libro in biblio perché avevo visto il nome di Shaun Tan in copertina. Di lui avevo letto L'approdo e mi ero innamorata dell'opera. Così.

Credo che i disegni non si leghino troppo alla storia. E la storia stessa, dei brevi paragrafi raccontanti dai membri di una stessa famiglia, passa così velocemente che non me ne sono resa conto.

Letto come pausa da Centomila gavette di ghiaccio.

[The Reading Countess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shaun Tan prompted me to check Memorial out (Tales from Suburbia and The Arrival). The illustrations (naturally) don't disappoint. But the overaching story is what leaves me reeling. Ironically, I read this on the eve of Memorial Day weekend. Younger generations threaten to chop down the tree planted three generations ago in memory of the soldiers returning from war. This tale masterfully weaves the story of three generations living with the beloved tree, and the power of memories despite the physical monuments erected. Beautifully crafted, this would make a spectacular read due to the layers of instruction deftly hidden inside.

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's hard not to love a book by Gary Crew and Shaun Tan! Both are fabulous, and together they are fantastic. This book from 1999 looks back to the end of the First World War in 1918. Returning soldiers plant a tree in the town square. The tree grows into an impressive memorial, too impressive, the roots start being a problem in the eyes of the local council, and it's future is under a cloud. Tan's beautiful, moving illustrations add so much to Gary Crew's story. An impressive read for the older child, or us adults.