The Incredible Freedom Machines - Picture Book Review

The Incredible Freedom Machines

(Scholastic, 2018)

written by Kirli Saunders and illustrated by Matt Ottley

Tags: Picture books, reading, imagination, self-empowerment, perseverance, overcoming limitations, borders and boundaries

When I first brought this book home from the Wollongong Writers Festival, I left it on the coffee table and my husband Steve commented how much he loved the art work in it and read it straight away. 

This is something worth mentioning as he usually ignores the weekly piles of fiction books, including picture books, that invade our living space. (He only reads non-fiction). So I was very impressed, but not all surprised that he did notice it: its pastel colour cover is evocative and opens up questions. What's the girl looking at through that telescope? Where is she and why is she there? What is the piglet looking at in the opposite direction?

After I heard Kirli Saunders and Matt Ottley talk about it in one of the WWF 2018 sessions, I had to have it. 

It's a beautifully collaborative narrative, where visuals and text not only come together but narrate different layers. It's the kind of book one revisits and see's different meanings in image and text.

Kirli Saunders reading at the WWF 2019

The story is about pursuing an idea of self-empowerment; at the same time, the images show exactly what this could look like with a nice twist in the end that opens up the floor of possibilities to the reader.

The Plot

A young girl, who lives in a caravan park in what seems a desolate environment, surrounded only by desert and rocks, hears about the incredible freedom machines. She longs to have one, too, as she becomes aware of the boundaries and limitations around her. 

Through her telescope she looks out for one her size. Because there is none, she 'grows' one herself with a lot of hard work, patience and perseverance. On good days she flies and discovers the abundant world of nature on land and under the sea.

          "As she grew in a world sewn together by boundaries, 

                                   she saw the need and hunted for one."

Once she's got her incredible freedom machine, she travels beyond her boundaries and limited world and discovers a colourful world full of wonders and creatures.

"Her incredible machine would take her to the

                                most abundant untouched places.


And she would learn from these new places and creatures...

"She would soak up their secrets and return a little more entire."

...and transform:

"With her freedom machine, she was everything she had ever dreamed of being"

The pictures include some subtle details, such as the girl's pig companion which is a piglet that always looks in the opposite direction of the girl. There are also names on some of the dream machine such as 'Foreword' and 'Chapters' which drop a clue to the reader that the dream machines are all different, but for some it's a motorbike, for others it's a book.

Themes

Sometimes our surroundings can be limiting and full of boundaries. The only way to escape them is by being creative, patient and persevering in our pursuit of adventure, knowledge and contentment. Motto: Let's use our imagination.

Words

Kirli Sanders explained that she, as a poet, found the process of crossing arts and doing a picture book kind of natural, which is the more reason why I recommend reading picture books like this one to YA and grown ups. They hold so much poetic and philosophical beauty in word and picture  that everyone can enjoy, no matter the age, gender or cultural background.

WOW - Word of the Week #4

It's so hot at the moment here in Australia, with many floods, bush fires and temperatures at an all time high all around the country. Apart from Global Warming, it makes me also think of my childhood days spent in central European winters, with snow knee high and soft it makes you want to jump into it and play snow angel. I sometimes look at old photos and they bring back that feeling that only cold, winter days evoke.  

                                   Winter in the Black Forest, mid 1990s            (Photo: FKV)

#4

Flindrikin adj. n., v. Also flinderkin, flindrekin; flinderskin, flinterkin (Ork.); flinri(c)kin, -en,flim-; flandrikan (Uls.2 1929); and curtailed form †flyndrig.[′flɪn(d)rɪkən]

I. adj. Light, flimsy, unsubstantial, esp. of material (Ork. 1929 Marw.; Abd.28 1952); showy, gaudy (Uls.21929); of persons: frivolous, empty-headed; flirtatious (Fif. 1808 Jam.) (http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/flindrikin)

II. n. Something light, flimsy and unsubstantial, esp. of cloth or garments (Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl.; Kcb.c.1900; ne.Sc. 1952); also fig., of persons (Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl.), “an impudent woman, a deceiver” (Ayr. 1825 Jam., flyndrig), of a very thin oatcake or scone (Bnff.13 1914), of a slight snow-shower (Ork.51952). 

 †III. v. To beguile (Ayr. 1825 Jam., flyndrig).[O.Sc. flindrikin, c.1580 in Watson's Choice Coll. II. 54, in the sense of frivolous, a frivolous person. The word appears to be orig. a noun, of Du. orig. with dim. -kin ending, meaning “a butterfly,” cf. E.Fris. flinderke, flinnerk, id., cogn. with Flinder, v.2 In Sc. the form seems to have been confused with that of the ppl.adj. in -in(g) and to have been used as such.] (Dictionar o the Scots Leid)

English is limited when it comes to the description of snow. For example, in German, there are definitely more words than one for snow. But there is a language that describes the different forms of snow so intricately, that puts even the Inuit myth of having fifty words to shame and that is the Scottish language.

Who would have thought that the Scots have more words for it than the Inuits?  In fact, Alison Flood in an article in the Guardian  claims in an article in the Guardian that the Scots have 421 words for the white stuff.



Flindrikin is one of my favourites. First, I like the sound of it. Flindrikin - it sounds fun. Second, its meaning, a ''slight snow shower is just one of my favourites natural winter phenomenon. It is so soft and dry it is hard to even build a decent snow man with it or have a snowball battle. It doesn't take any other shape than a powdery form. It's a lot of fun to ski through it when it's on top of a more firm snow layer, leaving a dramatic snow 'wave' in one's wake.

I'm not sure if I will ever use it in a story - but it would make a cool character name (if the description fits). Otherwise, I guess it would have to involve at least a Scot or the story set in Scotland. I've never been to Scotland, but it's on my travel wish list!

> Have you described a winter landscape with words other than snow? Or do you know a story that mentions flindrikin? 

I would love to hear from you <