by Moe Zilla

Created on: October 04, 2010

"In the last cottage in the row lives Emily Culpepper…"

The book opens with a detailed two-page illustration showing a lively overhead view of the village.  There's dozens of thatch-roofed buildings - and dozens of tiny people - living past the farmland by green rolling hills. The next illustration shows sheep on a country road, and then the st ory finds its way to Emily Culpepper's house. She's "an old lady who enjoys cooking and traveling, but most of all she enjoys talking to her friends."

The pictures were drawn by one of Australia's most popular illustrators, according to the book's jacket, and they help to keep the book interesting and entertaining. Roland Harvey

First draws a milkman arriving to visit Emily - and he's drawn with a funny long and pointy nose, and a friendly smile. But reading this book, I also discovered that some Australians also have a dark sense of humor. On the next page, Emily Culpepper has "turned the milkman small," and then she locks him in a tiny jam jar that she keeps on a shelf.

She does the same thing to the postman and to the plumber - though every day, she lets them out to eat on her kitchen table. She lets them play in an old doll's house, though sometimes "it was difficult to catch them and put them back into their jars again." The book's title page shows an Australian bobby who's riding over a hill on a bicycle, and sure enough, he turns up in a story. "You can't keep those men here," the policeman informs Emily Culpepper.

Besides the fact that their families miss them, the town needs its postman, its plumber, and its milkman!

The strangest thing about this story is the little people don't seem particularly upset. They even tip their hat to Emily Culpepper when she finally releases them into her garden. But there's one last dark twist, since the book ends with Emily trapping the policeman. "Sometimes it is difficult to catch him and put him back into his jar again…but the hunt is quite exciting."

It'd be a creepy story if Harvey's bright drawings didn't give it an especially light touch. Author Ann Coleridge is actually from England - she has a degree from Oxford - but she relocated to Australia in 1981. It's an odd combination of Harvey's sunny illustrations with her quirky little tale. But love it or hate it, it's a children's picture book that you're not going to forget!

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