Cheeky Dogs: To Lake Nash and Back
'Every morning
Is it time yet?
Nearly Joie says.
Out of the freezer comes the meat.
Bones and sausages and chicken necks.
Butcher knife on the bricks, me chopping up. Be careful!
Or you'll cut your finger off.
We can't have that Joie says.'
Meet deaf artist, Dion Beasley, and the people he calls family. Dodging road trains by day and giant blue monsters at night, Dion weaves his way through life on an electric scooter, collecting rocks and dogs to make art. In his dreams he sees animals from overseas and his mother's country, Lake Nash, but every morning, without fail, he puts on his favourite socks and gets ready to feed the dogs. Is it time yet?
'Cheeky Dogs: To Lake Nash and Back transcends the picture book genre, much in the way that Shaun Tan’s work does.' (Books + Publishing)
SHORTLISTED FOR THE PRIME MINISTER’S LITERARY AWARD
Praise
‘Through verbal and visual repetition, vibrantly energetic naïve artwork, onomatopoeia, and simple, straightforward prose, the authors weave a sense of spontaneous immediacy as they record terror, warmth, excitement, grief, toothache. Broad overviews alternate with tiny details, such as the sight and smell—but not the sound—of rain on the roof as Dion, a small child, is stitched together after being mauled by dogs. The illustrations are a seamless cohesion of multi-media pieces, each an outstanding example of vibrant 'outsider' art, rendered with freshness and spirit, power and cohesion to offer delight and revelation with each turn of the page.’ (Judges’ comments, Prime Minister’s Literary Awards)
Resources
Listen to Johanna Bell chat about Cheeky Dogs: To Lake Nash and Back on ABC Alice Springs.
Read more about Johanna and Dion
Listen to Johanna Bell on ABC Local Radio about how cheeky camp dogs are a vehicle for addressing literacy gaps
Ask us a question via our Too Many Cheeky Dogs Facebook page
