Helen Bate, Peter in Peril: courage and hope in World War Two, Otter-Barry Books/Walker Books Australia, Sept 2016, 46pp., $27.99 (hbk.), ISBN 9781910959572
British author and illustrator Helen Bate frames Peter in Peril, her hybrid picture book/graphic novel, around the life of a real Jewish boy who lived in Budapest during World War II. The story focuses on the years 1944‒1945 when the real Peter was about six years old.
The narrative unfolds from Peter’s viewpoint, and he is largely unaware of the deeper implications of his family’s Judaism; his perspective reflects the disruptions to his immediate world of home and family – packing up toys, repeatedly moving house, experiencing boredom and hunger.
Bate uses a mixture of text-only frames (several on each page) with frames that combine text and illustration. Reading order is not always clear and I initially read the panels on some pages out of sequence. I did not find the illustrations particularly evocative of the World War II era. Peter’s bedroom, strewn with toys and books, and with coloured paintings and pictures on the wall, could be the bedroom of a 21st century child, but perhaps this was Bate’s intention – a way of creating a connection between her readers and Peter.
Peter in Peril’s UK publisher suggests an audience aged eight and above. I think slightly younger children could cope with this book. Peter and his immediate family survive the war (a fact reinforced by a separate narrative, with photos of the real Peter, at the end of the book), and they all return safely to their (admittedly damaged) home. No brutality is depicted in the illustrations and even aggressive-looking soldiers perform acts of kindness towards Peter’s family.
One aspect of this book reminded me of Margaret Wild and Freya Blackwood’s The Treasure Box: in both stories the father of a boy named Peter buries a box containing ‘treasure’. In Peter in Peril, the treasure comprises ‘some photos and important papers’ and ‘our money’; in The Treasure Box, the treasure is a book, ‘rarer than rubies, more splendid than silver, greater than gold’. It might be interesting for children to consider what constitutes their own family’s treasure.
Peter in Peril touches on a range of issues, but most particularly on family separations and reunions, and a child’s adaptability in the face of change. The book is endorsed by Amnesty International ‘because it shows us why we all have the right to life and to live in freedom and safety’.
Suitable for ages 7+
Reviewed by Tessa Wooldridge
