Coral Vass (text), Brad Howe (illus), Meet … Don Bradman (Meet … series), Random House Australia, 18 April 2016, 32pp., $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781925324891
Don Bradman is the tenth subject in the Meet … series of picture book biographies of famous men and women in Australian history. Remarkable for its young narrative picture book approach to biographies, the series is also a notably successful platform for the debut of some quite talented new illustrators and writers. Coral Vass and Brad Howe have eschewed the usual historical recount depiction of Bradman’s cricketing career to instead focus on the character of the Bowral lad who had the grit and persistence to develop cricket skills. Howe’s illustration has a comic touch; the reader can’t help but like the plucky little fellow batting with his tongue out of the side of his mouth. Even as the narrative moves into the peak of Bradman’s career the characters are all depicted in jovial caricature.
The subject of the book is obviously cricket, but the theme is the unifying appeal of sport and its place in shaping a national identity and pride. Bradman’s career largely spanned the years between the two World Wars during which the Great Depression reduced many people’s lives to hardship and pessimism. Bradman’s extraordinary brilliance on the cricket pitch was seized upon by the press and, amidst the economic despair of the time, the success of Bradman and his team, especially in the Ashes, was a comforting, positive distraction across the nation. Vass’s narrative ends with a timeline of key personal and sporting moments in the ninety-two years of Bradman’s life.
Reviewed by Kevin Steinberger