Illustration for The March of the Ants
by Tohby Riddle
ink and brush, lead pencil on paper
Courtesy Tohby Riddle and Book Trail Press
Well The March of the Ants was an unusual book in its beginnings, in a way, because the idea came when I was told I was going to be the Australian Children’s Laureate, and there was going to be this ceremony with children in the audience, and I was going to be asked to make a 10-minute speech about how great reading was. When I started thinking about it – the children were going to be primary school age children – and I think we all do in a sense when a speech starts, we have a tendency for our mind to wander and to turn off, and I think particularly probably saying to children, “Reading is great” – I mean, they hear that a lot and they’re not going to object, but was it going to be very meaningful?
And so then it just suddenly occurred to me a better way to do it would be to write a story, because that is the kind of writing I do. It would also probably be infinitely more effective if I wrote a story. I suppose I was thinking, “We all agree books are great and reading is great, but why?” And in a way I think, through the story, I was trying to work out myself why I thought books were great. Like you sort of discover yourself what you think. I think children are always fascinated by ants; these tiny little creatures carrying these great big crumbs, they’re just so sort of stoic and relentless and they just sort of keep on going wherever they’re going in this sort of big world. And I think it’s easy for children to identify with ants. And so I knew I’d have this little ant who would insist on bringing her book.
The origin of The March of the Ants
Book Trial Press published March of the Ants last year, and it’s a book that we’re very, very proud of. It came out of us hearing the wonderful Ursula Dubosarsky give her speech as she became the Australian Children’s Laureate. And instead of giving a speech, she chose to tell a story. And at that moment, Paul – my partner in publishing, and in life – we looked at each other and we said, “That is a beautiful book; that has to be a book. That story just makes our heart sing.” So we were lucky enough to approach Ursula and we were able to work with her, which was an absolute delight from start to finish. We were able to work with Tohby Riddle as well, who did the beautiful illustrations.
Our team is very small, and what we love about it is that it’s a collaboration from start to finish. So Ursula and Tohby were very generous with their time and the creative process. And we all worked together as a team – with the editor Sue Whiting, Tohby himself did the design as well – to create the best book that we could make, and that’s why we’re so proud of it.
Publishing a story that makes the heart sing