A
Scholastic Press Book
197p pbk
ISBN:
186504363-X
Historical Fiction
My Story: The Bombing
of Darwin is the
story of Tom Taylor, an Australian sent along with his mother to live with his
wharfie father in Darwin. The book explores the deep bonds that family members
have, and how war can break these bonds suddenly.
At the start of the story, when Tom first arrives in Darwin
the author has subtly created a story that encompasses the mood of the entire
community. As in real life the people living in Darwin did not fear invasion and
this is portrayed well by the attitudes of the characters, but after Singapore
the ‘impenetrable’ fortress is taken without any major resistance tension
grows within the community.
For the first time some of the community begin to lose some
confidence and fear invasion. Going against popular belief Tom and his father
dig a slit trench, this shows without doubt that Tom and his Father are aware of
the threat. Because the neighbours laugh at the trench the author has shown that
all the way up until the Darwin bombing a lot of people still had faith that
Australia would not be invaded.
When Darwin is bombed the story turns from a slow, almost
monotonous story into a racing bombardment (if you’ll pardon the pun) of
words. The story from that moment progresses fast and it seems in no time at all
Tom is back in Adelaide.
All in all I enjoyed this book. Both excitement and
historical fact are well blended into this story. I was however disappointed
that the book ended so suddenly…perhaps the author was intending to gain the
effect of the suddenness that the bombing of Darwin had.
Jonathan, aged 16,
Canberra, ACT
The
Bombing of Darwin is a
brilliantly written book, both informal and fictional. I thoroughly enjoyed the
novel, and I also learned accurate information as to what really happened during
the bombing of Darwin. The novel is about a boy, Tom, whose father finds
employment in Darwin, and soon after travels up with his mother. Throughout the
novel (up to the actual bombing), the people of Darwin were warned that Darwin
could possibly be under threat of being attacked by Japan, and so Tom decides to
build a bomb shelter, even though most (if not all) of the locals don’t
believe anything is going to happen. Even so, there are people from the army
there that Tom bumps into, but even they are careless about the threats
concerning Japan, especially since they happily told Tom where all of the
weapons were kept.
They were
wrong though, and as Japan travels down the planet defeating many countries on
the way, people in Darwin start to become afraid, especially since Japanese subs
have been spotted on the shoreline off and near Darwin. As the worries become
worse and worse most of the city was to be evacuated, however Tom and his mum
decide that they need to stick together as a family with his dad. Unfortunately,
the Japanese do end up bombing Darwin, and someone very close to Tom doesn’t
live to see what was left of Darwin. Tom also didn’t know what became of his
father until later in the novel, and basically what happened was that he left on
an army truck with a whole group of people to travel back to live with his Aunt
and Uncle until he found out more. Not long after, his dad comes back to live
with him.
I found the
novel very easy to read, and gained a good knowledge as to what Darwin was like
before and during the bombing by the Japanese. One of the good things about it
was that a tragedy happened to Tom within his own family, so unlike most other
novels, it surprised me, and made the story much more real and dangerous.
It was
especially helpful to have the few pages at the end explaining a few more
details about the bombing of Darwin, for example it explained that there were
many more people dead, than the amount that the Government had informed
Australia of at the time. This came as a shock to me – even though it may not
have been as tragic for Australians to hear that a lesser number of people had
been killed, this is very disrespectful for the people who died and their
families.
Another
thing I found interesting was that three Japanese Bombers had crashed at around
the time that they bombed Darwin, and we (meaning Australians) took them to a
Japanese Embassy and had them buried at the embassy, which seems very
considerate, considering they were out to attack Australia.
Overall, The
Bombing of Darwin is an ideal way of learning about Australia’s history,
because it is an easy read, and is explored in great detail, unlike in a text
book where a whole year may be explained in a couple of paragraphs. It also gave
you the feeling of being with Tom, sharing all of the experiences with him.
Greg,
aged 16, Canberra, ACT
The
book is about a boy who is fourteen. His dad is working at the wharf in Darwin
unloading the ships that come into port during the war against the Japanese. Tom
and his mum moved up to Darwin so that he could be with his dad. There was a
rumour going around that the Japanese were going to bomb Darwin so Tom’s dad
decided that his wife and Tom were to be evacuated but before they could leave,
Darwin was bombed…
The Bombing of Darwin
is written in diary form. I usually don’t like reading diaries but I enjoyed
this book because it flowed really well. There weren’t any big words that
would be really hard for teenagers to know the meaning of. The story and
characters were really believable because it is written about an event that
really happened and the author wrote the book with lots of detail. The scene of
the inexperienced drinkers getting drunk in the pub seemed very realistic as the
young soldiers had little to do away from their families.
I
enjoyed reading this book because it is about an event that really happened but
it isn’t just boring facts. I also found it really interesting to know what it
would have felt like to live in Darwin when there was a war. Alan Tucker is an
Open Access Media Studies teacher in South Australia. I recommend this book to
teenagers that are interested in history and like action books.
Lewis,
aged 14, Kangaroo Island, SA