The Smallest Bilby and the Midnight Star

Title:               The Smallest Bilby and the Midnight Star

Author:           Nette Hilton

Illustrator:       Bruce Whatley

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Author:          Nette Hilton was born in Traralgon, Victoria and completed her teacher-training at the Wollongong Teachers' College.  She is one of Australia's best loved writers for younger children and has won several awards for her books, which range from early childhood stories to novels for older readers.  Her books include the forever popular Proper Little Lady and The Web. Other works include Square Pegs; The Friday Card; Hiccups; The New Kid; A Frilling Time; Seeing Things; Four Eyes - Notable Book 1996 Children's Book Council of Australia Award (Younger Readers). Nette shares her life with four children, a husband and many furred and feathered friends in northern NSW.  She splits her time between her work as a teacher and her writing commitments.
The Smallest Bilby and the Midnight Star is authorised by and dedicated to Rose-Marie Dusting, recognised creator of the Easter Bilby concept. It is the first of three Australian Easter picture books featuring the Smallest Bilby. Nette Hilton says, “…the story has been through many different shapes – a bit like Easter eggs really. All the shapes were basically the same (still a bit like Easter eggs) – and they all tried to capture something about the meaning of Easter”.
Illustrator:    Bruce Whatley is the illustrator of many popular and award-winning children's books, including the phenomenally successful Diary of a Wombat - which was an Honour Book in the 2003 CBC Picture Book of the Year Awards.  Other titles include, Too Many Pears!Little White Dogs Can’t Jump, Looking for Crabs and Detective Donut, and The Wild Goose Chase, which was short-listed in the 2000 Koala Awards Top 50. Bruce was born in South Australia, but after ten years his family moved to the UK where he studied visual communications and later worked in the advertising industry.
He returned to Australia with his family in the 1980's, and later spent some years working in the US. He now lives with his wife and collaborator, Rosie Smith, in a NSW country town where he works as a full time writer and illustrator.
SYNOPSIS   
Every night the smallest bilby gazes fondly at the smallest star in the sky – the one he loves best of all. And every night the smallest star shines down on him. But the smallest bilby is worried that his favourite star might go away forever, and forget him. Despite reassuring words of comfort from the oldest bilby, (“She always comes back.”) the smallest bilby decides to give the star something to remember him by, “forever and always”. It’s a kiss. But he’s not quite tall enough to reach. With the help of his bilby friends (and the smallest star herself) he sets about building a kiss – a gift which guarantees the smallest bilby and the smallest star will never forget one another.

WRITING STYLE
This story has a classic ‘beginning, middle and end’ structure. The main character, setting and theme are quickly introduced:the smallest bilby, the bilby patch under the midnight sky, and the connection between the smallest bilby and the smallest star. But soon, a problem arises – a problem that must be solved if the smallest bilby is to feel at ease: He must think of a way to ensure that his favourite star will remember him forever. He thinks of a solution, but it doesn’t work. However, with intelligence, ingenuity, perseverance, and hope, and with a little help from his bilby friends, the smallest bilby achieves his goal, at last.
A variety of language forms are used in this narrative. The language used is lyrical and symbolic, evoking underlying meaning and emotions. In the light cast by the moon the smallest bilby feels better, but when ‘a passing cloud hid the star from view, he grew frightened all over again.’ Descriptive, rhythmic and poetic language adds to the richness of the story: ‘One by one, two by two, three by three, the little bilbies of the bilby patch joined in…’; ‘Little by little, rock by rock, the kiss grew higher and bigger and rounder and fatter…; ‘…splashing his whiskers with starlight and brushing his ears with silver.’ The use of dialogue also adds to an understanding of the characters thoughts and feelings. For example when the smallest bilby says: “Sometimes I’m scared that she won’t be there”; or when he calls out: “I love you star! I love you best of all!”

ILLUSTRATIONS
Bruce Whatley has created delightful characters and settings using an illustrating style he has never tried before. He chose this ‘classic’ style because he thought The Smallest Bilby and the Midnight Star had the feel of a classic children's story. He looked at The Magic Pudding, Wind in the Willows, and illustrations from the 1900s. He says, “When you look closely at the drawing from The Magic Pudding and Wind in the Willows it is often what is left out that makes the drawing. The trick is finding an economy of line. Only draw what needs to be drawn.’ The drawings are done with an old-fashioned nib ink pen with black ink, and a wash of coloured inks. Bruce Whatley says, “As I had never used a nib pen to draw with before I was a little apprehensive… It has taken me a long time to come up with a classic illustration style. I will definitely use it again.”
The delicate pen and ink wash illustrations on watercolour paper complement the meaning and mood of the text. The way the illustrations are presented helps to pace the story – several pages showing a tiny vignette opposite a single page illustration framed with a thin ink line, followed by a broad double page spread. The space and colour used in the illustrations capture the vastness and hues of the Australian desert, by night – the blues, violets, and the brightness of the starlight

DISCUSSION POINTS

• Nette Hilton says, “I like bilbies. I like their name and I like the way they scuttle around. I like the shape of them.” Find out about bilbies. Use the library, the Internet, talk to a keeper at the zoo. What is their habitat – where do they live, what do they eat, are they nocturnal, which animal family do they belong to?
• One thing Nette Hilton found out along the way was that bilbies used to be kept as pets. She says, ‘Farmers used to encourage bilbies to stay around the farmhouse, under the verandah, because they happily ate bugs and others things the farmers didn’t like’. Talk about whether native animals should be kept as pets. Are there special regulations that would allow this? Under what circumstances is it all right to have a native animal as a pet?
• The Bilby is an endangered species. Talk about how and why bilbies have become endangered. What can individuals and the community do to help save the bilby and other endangered native animals?
• Bilbies are marsupials. Which other animals are marsupials? Find out, talk about and write down what is unique about these animals. Is there any characteristic that is unique to the bilby? Create a mural or a catalogue book of Australian marsupials using children’s own illustrations.
• The book is dedicated to Rose-Marie Dusting who is recognised as the creator of the Easter Bilby. Find out more about Rose-Marie Dusting and talk about why, in 1979, she wrote her book Billy the Aussie Easter Bilby.
• The bilby is now unmistakably linked with Easter in Australia. Talk about why the bilby makes a suitable substitute for the traditional Easter bunny.
• Find other children’s books featuring bilbies. Examples include: Bilby Moon (Margaret Spurling, Danny Snell), Bilbies of Bliss (Margaret Wild, Noela Young), Hunwick’s Egg (Mem Fox, Pamela Lofts), Show and Tell (Bruce Dawe, Andrew McLean). Compare the different ways authors and illustrators have approached the subject.
• Look at books featuring illustrations by Norman Lindsay (The Magic Pudding), and E.H. Shephard (Wind in the Willows).
• Look carefully at Bruce Whatley’s illustrations. Talk about the techniques he has used to create the delightful characters - simple pen and ink lines. Draw pictures of bilbies and other native animals using pen and ink, or fine line markers. Make a mural, or create an information book.
• Talk about how the illustrator has depicted light and shadow, and the setting – the vastness of the dessert sky, the landscape, and the starlight on rocks. Draw pictures combining pen and ink lines with colour wash.
• What is a vignette? Talk about how these small drawings allow the illustrator to add an understanding of the action, the thoughts and feelings portrayed in the story.
• Make a poster using the descriptive words and phrases used to portray setting,characters, actions, and feelings (e.g. wander, fetching, carrying, lifting, pushing, whispered, star-shiny, hung close to the end of the sky, brushing his ears with silver). Draw vignettes, too.