As it draws closer to the holiday season (in Australia), Little White Bird Press is launching The Promise Christmas Campaign to sell a million copies before the 25 December – yes, a million copies! – of the wonderfully unique and courageous little children’s book, The Promise, by Richard Dove, illustrated by Kyoko Imazu. Have we got your attention? This is just wishful thinking of course, but we’re aiming for the galaxies – forget the stars! Over the next few weeks, via this blog, we will release exclusive reviews of The Promise, by three incredibly gifted, world-class talents, heralding from Australia and Ireland. Unlike the million sales - which may take quite a few Christmases – these reviews are ready for your reading right now. Go on - keep reading...
The First Review: is from one of Australia’s most well-known and celebrated journalists, Mr Tony Wright. With a career spanning more than five decades, he is a former chief political correspondent for The Age, and national affairs editor with The Bulletin. These days, he is Associate Editor and Special Writer for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. A best-selling author and columnist, his books include Turn Right at Istanbul: A Walk on the Gallipoli Peninsula and Bad Ground: Inside the Beaconsfield Mine Rescue. Having recently returned from the United Kingdom, covering the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, he sat down and generously wrote this review of The Promise.
Review of The Promise
by Tony Wright
It is such a little book, and such a modest story. And yet at its soul lies a message that leaves the reader - and certainly this reader - a need to sit quietly and contemplate at length the essence of being.
The Promise, by Richard Dove, is part fable, part Eastern folk tale and all gentle spirit.
It is only when we reach its closing words that we understand how profound is its substance.
It is a children’s book, certainly. And yet, in this often confounding world in which we live, The Promise offers all of us the universal lesson that to do good to those around us brings its own reward, made all the richer if it is done without conscious effort, or even without knowing.
The Promise, then, is a meditation. It is the journey of a humble boy who promises to become a great man, but who turns out to be so lacking in artifice he has no idea what it might even mean to become great.
His gift, through the poetic skill of Richard Dove, is to the reader, who is led softly to understand precisely what true greatness entails.
The Promise, lyrically illustrated by Kyoko Imazu, is simply a beautiful little book containing a beautiful little story that leaves a large and lasting imprint on the reader’s heart.
It is a children’s book for all of us.
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Purchase your copy/s here: The Promise
Hint: purchase three for free shipping