Rummage

by Christobel Mattingley

When shabby, disorganized Mr. Portwine, a rummage salesman, lets his neighbors in the street market bully him into making his stall neater and more specialized, he finds that his customers liked him better the way he was.

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Christobel Mattingley has been writing since she was eight years old and had her first pieces published in the children's pages of magazines and newspapers. Her first book, The Picnic Dog, was published in 1970, when she had three young children. While they were growing up she worked as a librarian in schools and in a teachers' college. She has been self-employed as a writer since 1974 and has travelled widely in Australia and overseas, speaking in schools and libraries. Christobel Mattingley has published over 30 books for children. Some of her works have been translated into other languages, have won various awards in Australia and the USA, and have been made into films for ABC Television. For most of the 1980s she worked with Aboriginal people and researched the history Survival in Our Land. In 1990 she received the Advance Australia Award for Service to Literature, and in 1996 she was made a Member of the Order of Australia for service to literature, particularly children's literature, and for community service through her commitment to social and cultural issues. No Gun for Asmir received a High Commendation in the Australian Human Rights Awards of 1994.

Reviews

[John Gough · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful to read and look at -- a prize-winning book!
Christobel Mattingley's early books were exclusively about Australia, although her themes of families and children facing the challenges of growing up are universal.
But with "Rummage" (1981) she successfully shifted her story setting to Britain, winning the Australian Children's Book Council Book of the Year Award for Younger Readers in 1982.
"Mr Septimus Portwine kept a stall in the market …" the story, superbly illustrated in mixed-media drawing and collage by Patricia Mullins, evokes the second-hand stalls of London's famous Portobello Road flea market.
Mr Portwine's jumble stall was really "just an old trestle table piled with boxes, with more boxes stacked underneath, more still in the [old hand-cart], and an overflow spilling out on the pavement". Odds and ends were higgledy-piggledy together, and people had to fossick and search, but could always hope for something unexpected a bargain. (Happy hunters make happy customers!)
"Mr Portwine loved to collect things that needed to belong. And people loved to buy them."
His more organised fellow-stall holders, snobby dealers in antiques and prestigious collectibles, look down their noses at his popular chaos. They advise him to tidy up, shave his florid red whiskers, and organise. But his valiant efforts to move up-market succeed only in confusing his customers.
Disheartened, he happily goes back to running his stall in his own way. He replaces the pretentious sign "BRIC-A-BRAC" for the down to earth "RUMMAGE".
This book is quite simply a delight from start to finish.
Very highly recommended, AND, deservedly, a major prize-winner!
John Gough -- Deakin University (retired) -- jagough49@gmail.com