The Melbourne Athenaeum Library

Amazon cover image
Image from Amazon.com

Underground : marsupial outlaws and other rebels of Australia's War in Vietnam / a graphic novel by Mirranda Burton.

By: Publication details: Crows Nest, N.S.W. : Allen & Unwin, 2021.Description: 250 pages : chiefly illustrations ; 27 cmISBN:
  • 9781760631475
  • 1760631477
Subject(s): Genre/Form: DDC classification:
  • 741.5994 23
Awards:
  • Winner 2022 Readings Young Adult Prize.
Summary: Why would a wombat be registered for war? It's 1965, and an old Tattersalls barrel starts rolling marbles to randomly conscript young Australian men to fight in the war in Vietnam. Melbourne housewife Jean McLean is outraged, as are her artist friends Clif and Marlene Pugh, who live in the country with their wombat, Hooper. Determined to wreck the system, Jean forms the Save Our Sons movement's Victorian branch, and she and her supporters take to the streets to protest. Meanwhile, in the small country town of Katunga, Bill Cantwell joins the Australian Army, and in Saigon, young Mai Ho is writing letters to South Vietnamese soldiers from her school desk. And when Hooper's call-up papers arrive, he mysteriously goes underground... As these stories intersect in unexpected ways and destinies entwine, a new world gradually emerges - a world in which bridges of understanding make more sense than war. This stunning graphic novel, full of empathy, courage and resistance, is based on true events.
List(s) this item appears in: Australian Graphic Novels | Awarded Young Adult Fiction
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Status Date due Barcode Item reserves
Book Melbourne Athenaeum Library Graphic novels BUR Available 064005
Total reserves: 0

Includes bibliographical references.

Why would a wombat be registered for war? It's 1965, and an old Tattersalls barrel starts rolling marbles to randomly conscript young Australian men to fight in the war in Vietnam. Melbourne housewife Jean McLean is outraged, as are her artist friends Clif and Marlene Pugh, who live in the country with their wombat, Hooper. Determined to wreck the system, Jean forms the Save Our Sons movement's Victorian branch, and she and her supporters take to the streets to protest. Meanwhile, in the small country town of Katunga, Bill Cantwell joins the Australian Army, and in Saigon, young Mai Ho is writing letters to South Vietnamese soldiers from her school desk. And when Hooper's call-up papers arrive, he mysteriously goes underground... As these stories intersect in unexpected ways and destinies entwine, a new world gradually emerges - a world in which bridges of understanding make more sense than war. This stunning graphic novel, full of empathy, courage and resistance, is based on true events.

Premier's Reading Challenge 7-9

Winner 2022 Readings Young Adult Prize.

Melbourne Athenaeum Library
Level 1, 188 Collins St, Melbourne 3000
library@melbourneathenaeum.org.au
Tel:(03) 9650 3100
Powered by Koha   Hosted by