posted on 14 Sep 2019

The Lost Homework by Richard O’Neill, illustrated by Kirsti Beautyman

A new picture book story from Richard O’Neill is always something we look forward to and you’ll find our previous reviews of three others here, here and here. There’s an additional bonus this time in that he’s teamed-up with the illustrator, Kirsti Beautyman, whose work in Katie Clapham’s The Missing Bookshop  I was so impressed with.

O’Neill gives us another strong, positive story that is based inside the Traveller community and celebrates the richness of the community experience. Sonny lives with his parents on a well-established Traveller site and the approaching weekend is going to be something special – there’s a wedding to go to. Preparations start on Friday evening and there’s loads to do; the wedding cart needs sprucing up, clothes have to be got ready, the horse needs shoeing and all the logistics to be worked out. Sonny is great at maths, so he can work out the best route to take and he’s got a hand in everything that’s going on.

On Saturday, the wedding is a great success and Sonny gets himself involved in the music by playing his harmonica and also takes his place in the traditional storytelling  that keeps everyone entertained. On the Sunday he looks after the younger children in the park and he helps one of his older neighbours with an email problem before heading home to give a hand with the cooking.

All well and good but what about his homework!? Sonny prides himself on getting his homework done on time but in all the excitement and confusion of the wedding, he realises he’s lost his books. There’s nothing he can do about it either – he’s just going to have to turn up on Monday morning and confess what’s happened to his teacher.

But when he gets to school and comes clean, things don’t quite work out in the way he’d feared.

Now, you’ve probably guessed already that I’m not going to give away what happens because I’d rather you read it for yourself – and you’ll be glad you did.

This is a generous large format picture book from Child’s Play that is vibrant and colourful with the words and pictures working in harmony. Kirsti Beautyman’s style of illustration fits the story perfectly and there’s loads of detail on each page that provides chances to develop some discussion if the book is read by an adult to a child.

I love the central messages about the value of community and about the way getting involved in community events can be an education in its own right. O’Neill extends that principle into his books by giving the reader an almost privileged glimpse into Traveller lifestyles and by introducing us all to a Traveller vocabulary – some of which will be new and some of which might be familiar but without knowing its true origins. There will be plenty of people who will have come across the word ‘Kushti’ before but I wonder how many knew the origins were in the Traveller community?

 

Terry Potter

September 2019

(Click on any image to view in a slide show format)