by Moe Zilla

Created on: May 29, 2010

"Nobody in Preston could remember when the watertower was built…"

It stands overlooking Shooters Hill, with rusted iron legs and a warped egg-shaped tank. Two young boys decide to swim in the leaking old watertower, though they seem pretty rugged themselves. One boy thinks to himself that "His mother couldn't have cared less where he went," and they're not stopped by the twisted posts that used to hold a security fence around the tower. The two boys are named Spike and Bubba - and it seems like they're headed for trouble.

It's an Australian story - at one point, one boy says "It's worth it, hey?" - and in fact, the whole story seems more rugged than usual. Where most children's stories teach a simple moral lesson, this one suggests there's a real monster lurking in the darkness. Of course, younger readers can miss the hints, assuming the second boy comes home safe and sound at the end of the book. But there's an unmistakable second interpretation of the book's last line.

"Deep in the tank, the water eddied and swirled…"

The illustrations in this book follow a very unusual format. Steven Woolman created chalk-and-pencil drawings on black paper to capture scenes near the deep, dark tank, and well as some bright acrylic paint drawings capturing the sunny Australian village. But readers have to tilt the book 90-degrees, because the pictures were published with a "landscape" orientation. And a really alert reader will note the angle flips 180 degrees - at a crucial point of the book.

It's a story, but it's also a kind of riddle, and another clue appears on page three. It's a black page, with the watertower in an abstract drawing, as though it's the last square on the curve of a board game. More "squares on a board game" images appear throughout the book - though sometimes it's curving in the opposite direction. And one drawing also shows the reflection of the ladder that leads into the dark water…as though it continues on to the opposite side.

I wondered if the boy came up on the other side - in an alternate reality (where he can't find his shorts). But I think the book is suggesting a much darker possibility. Is there a second boy - or even a lurking watertower monster - that swallows the boy, and then takes his place? If you read "The Watertower," be warned - it's either a harmless swimming story, a baffling enigma - or terrifying!

Learn more about this author, Moe Zilla.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.