Julia Lawrinson (text) and Heather Potter & Mark Jackson (illustrators), City of Light, Wild Dog Books, February 2023, RRP $24.95 (hbk), ISBN 9781742036304
City of Light tells the true story of how two children from Perth captured the imagination of the residents of their city, with the idea to leave their lights on so that astronaut John Glenn could see Perth from space, during his first human orbit of Earth on 20 February 1962. And so, it’s a heartening story of community collaboration during a time of fascination with early advances in outer space travel.
Although author Julia Lawrinson is best known for her outstanding YA and middle grade novels, she adapts her masterful writing skills to this picture book with short, punchy phrases that capture the excitement of the first astronaut Earth orbit, while succinctly telling the children’s story.
Potter and Jackson have cleverly used two contrasting illustration styles in the book. On the one hand, rough sketch lines and gentle, light coloured water wash is used to illustrate ordinary, everyday domestic and street scenes, providing detail of the children and their environment amongst the styles and technology of 1962. On the other hand, the outer space scenes and distance views of Earth, are less distinct and set against a dark background, creating a more scientific and otherworldly feel. I love the striking, bold cover image showing the children shining their torches into a dark star-studded sky. The endpapers with newspaper headlines about the lighting up of Perth cleverly provide context of the real event.
This is a beautiful book for parents and grandparents to share their nostalgia for the 1960s and their interest in early outer space flight, with a new generation of space travel enthusiasts.
Reviewed by Barbara Swartz
