Closed doors are no match for cookie-wielding mum, however. She enters a room of gloomy light and ominous intentions, sets down Tom’s plate and waits.
Tom ignores her and afternoon tea in favour of his
grandfather’s old SRL camera, the kind with a long lens for zooming in and out.
Hunger eventually presides and with it his storm breaks. Negative feelings pour out until eventually, like the storm outside his window, torrents turn to trickles.
He pulls mum into his pool of despair trying
to make her see what he is experiencing. Instead, she picks up the camera and
reveals what she sees, reminding him of the first lesson in photography
his grandfather taught him; that perspective is everything. Control the zoom
aspect and you … change everything.
The metaphor is simple yet powerful. Through several
wordless spreads, Tom zooms out on his very bad day and is able to gain a
much-needed retrospective perspective of it; gaining the ability to view cause
and effect; to appreciate the delicate balance of actions and consequences that
formed his day and, eventually, he is able to breathe a little easier.
Zoom artfully acknowledges
the times we feel overwhelmed by the myriads of little things that turn sour in
our lives. And, that although we are all prone to drowning in these feelings,
there is a way to reframe and carry on. This elegantly relayed story reminds us
of the importance to stop and refocus on the bigger picture. The power of this
message is portrayed by both Patterson’s fluid prose and Morgan’s painted
illustrations which have a magnificent ‘real-life’ appearance as though originating
from photographs themselves.
There’s a brooding quiet gentleness about this tale
that concludes with a creative quirk as warm as a mother’s embrace after a hard
day at school. Kids everywhere will relate to those days when they’ve bottled
up more than their little souls can handle. Zoom is a tender way of helping
them to let go, refocus and enjoy a fresh perspective. Something us big kids would
do well to effect more, as well.
Highly recommended.
Title: Zoom
Author: Dannika Patterson
Illustrator: Ross Morgan
Publisher: Ford Street
Publication Date: 1 September 2024
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781922695427
For ages: 5 – 9
Type: Picture Book