Lone Pine by Susie Brown & Margaret Warner

Lone Pine by Susie Brown and Margaret Warner is an emotionally charged picture book which focuses on the Battle of Lone Pine, the loss of life, and the ramifications it has on the home front which was a very lonely existence of waiting for many women whose sons and husbands had gone off to war. It is also a book about remembrance and the tree which lives on today in various propagated forms as a symbol of hope and endurance. The book is based on a true story. The story commences in Turkey in August 1915 at the well- known Battle of Lone Pine describing how the trees were used by soldiers on both sides to disguise and protect their trenches. At the heart-wrenching conclusion of the battle a brother collects a pine cone to send home to his mum. Some time later on the mum takes the cone from the drawer where she has kept it and plants out some of its seeds. She nurtures three saplings which have grown from the seeds, but only two survive, just as only two out of three of her sons returned from the war. One tree is planted at Inverell where the boys grew up and the other at the Australian War Memorial in 1934. Today, the pine at the memorial it reaches over 20 metres in height. This book beautifully illustrated by freelance artist Sebastian Ciaffaglione is a welcome edition to my war literature for children collection. Click on the link below to appreciate some of his amazing works of art:

http://www.sebastiancreative.com/index.php?/gallery/picture-books/