'A heartfelt story of the bond of love and devotion between a man and his dog in war.
'Matthew, a young Australian soldier, smuggles his beloved dog, Digger, onto the troop ship when he leaves to fight in World War One. At the front, Matthew works as a stretcher-bearer and Digger helps him rescue the wounded. Together, they face the triumphs and tragedies of the Western Front.
'Based on the true story of Driver, a puppy that was smuggled onto an Australian troop ship during World War One, this heartfelt story shows that the bond of love and devotion between a man and his dog cannot be broken, even by the tragedy of war.' (Publication summary)
'Generations of Australian children have been presented with iconic figures and values associated with the events of 1915 at Gallipoli and involved in the ritual practices of remembrance exemplified by Anzac Day ceremonies throughout a corpus of children’s literature which ranges from picture books for pre-schoolers to young adult fiction. This paper aims to broadly identify the narrative strategies at work in a selection of recent stories of brave animals helping the Aussie boys under fire or paeans to the duty of personal and communal remembrance and to examine them in a larger context of national self-representation.' (Publication abstract)
'Generations of Australian children have been presented with iconic figures and values associated with the events of 1915 at Gallipoli and involved in the ritual practices of remembrance exemplified by Anzac Day ceremonies throughout a corpus of children’s literature which ranges from picture books for pre-schoolers to young adult fiction. This paper aims to broadly identify the narrative strategies at work in a selection of recent stories of brave animals helping the Aussie boys under fire or paeans to the duty of personal and communal remembrance and to examine them in a larger context of national self-representation.' (Publication abstract)
