Joey and his sheepdog Riley are more than best
friends. They live with Joey’s mum and grandad on a sheep station. One day
things change. Mother and son move to town where there is no room for Riley to
run and herd sheep.
Although grandad looks after Riley and sends informative
letters daily to the boy, both Joey and Riley have lost parts of themselves due
to the separation. Joey reads grandpa’s notes and thinks of hills. Riley sleeps
on Joey’s bed and dreams that he is still in it.
After a severe storm, Riley’s collar is found by
the creek bed and grandad’s letter informing him of this shatters the boy’s
world. What has happened to Riley? Will Joey never see him again?
Grandad’s letters sweep across the page while Mandy
Foot’s delicate, detailed and emotive illustrations tell the other half of the
story. It is there in Joey’s body language – the hunch of his shoulders, his
slouch, the way he sees his plates as larger than those on the farm, and the
emptiness he sees when he looks around him. All this conveys his disinterest in
life. Then there is the lack of animation in Riley’s actions that make the same
feelings visible.
Powerful feelings connected to the isolation
experienced in rural areas seep through the story to share the grief of
separation experienced by the characters with the reader. It is like a small
death.
This story is about love and what happens when that
love becomes loss. Beautifully told, its divine images support the text with a
story of their own. Just when you think that everything has been offered to the
story inside the book, the stunning end pages covered in pencil images claim a
life of their own, adding a seperate beauty to the whole publication.
Title:
Joey and Riley
Author/Illustrator:
Mandy Foot
Publisher:
Hachette, $15.99
Publication
Date: June 2019
Format:
Paperback
ISBN:
9780734419217
For
ages: 5+
Type: Picture Book