Many recent releases in the world of children’s picture books have been detailed, complicated efforts — fantastic, highly elaborate illustrations or plots that revolve around big issues (death, divorce, gender, inequality) dealt with in a manner that the intended audience hopefully understands. Other books have been noteworthy for being ‘clever’, which usually means that the parents get a kick out of the wry humour even if the children being read to don’t quite ‘get it’. Into this crowded market comes another type of children’s picture book in the form of Antoinette Portis’ Not a Stick. A follow up to the wildly successful Not a Box, Portis shows how simple can be not only effective, but fun and entertaining as well.
This book is simplicity itself — each double page spread consists of one coloured page with a simple sentence and one page with a simple illustration. It tells the story of a little pig with a stick, who endeavours to explain to the unseen questioner that actually, it is not a stick, it’s a sword, or a conductor’s baton or a paintbrush. That’s it — no sneaky humour, no fancy flourishes, no message other than that kids are good at making stuff up. And that is the beautiful charm of this book. The only problem could be next time you tell your child to be careful playing with a stick that they now have the perfect comeback — But Mum, it’s not a stick!’
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