The following was written by the author Colin Thompson about the book I donated the vultures illustration for ...

In a perfect world this book would not exist, but we do not live in a perfect world. At any given moment of any given day, there are people dying from natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, epidemics and famine that we have no control over. Beyond natural disasters we add disasters of our own making, but even if we all learn to live in peace, there will still be millions of people who need help.

This book was inspired by Niger. In 2005, television news around the world reported the terrible starvation that was killing thousands of people. So I decided to organise this book to raise money to try and help those who cannot help themselves.

A couple of illustrators I approached said the whole project was so depressing that no one would buy the book, and I do realise that this is a confrontational book and it might well upset some people, but hundreds of thousands of deaths from starvation or abuse or curable disease is what we should really be upset about.

DUST is a simple story with 14 double page illustrations, each one by a different illustrator, including myself. All our royalties are going to Save the Children. I would like to thank Australian Standing Orders, who supply books to two out of three schools in Australia and New Zealand, who are giving this project their full support AND all of their profits.

DUST is a picture book, but it is not just for children. I hope to see a copy on every coffee table everywhere. If you don't drink coffee, buy a copy and put it on your bedside table or kitchen bench or dashboard or surfboard.

Colin Thompson
Author

I would like to thank Colin for inviting me to contribute to this inspirational project. If you would like to buy a copy go to the online ABC shop. More details about the book can be found here. For full details of the charity, visit the Save The Children website.

I've included my first illustration 'Dust original' for anyone curious. I changed my mind and then illustrated the vultures ...

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Comments (7)

Dust
written by Kira Tubus, August 22, 2008

My goodness I read "The Island" in class at the end of the story my teacher was telling us that he 'was' going to read Dust to us but by the second page we 'would' be 'crying' he said all other teachers dident read the rest of the book because they were crying by the middle i hope i do get to read it we heard about it but we havent read it yet i wish we could but it was made for the yr 6's and the teacher said we 'would be crying' so i understand..........

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i read DUST and i love it
written by marree kerwin, October 16, 2008

i read it and i fell in love and the funny thing is it is all true

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Nice article
written by Michael, October 20, 2008

Sounds like a great idea and a really good cause. Nice work

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THIS IS SAD
written by Tara, November 19, 2008

This book moves me and wants me to help as much as i can When i read this i felt like the lukiest girl in the world And all the things i complain about, i think im an idiot even bringing them up

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Strong Book
written by Ms Smith, February 07, 2009

This book is a very strong and understandable book, they are under sufrage on the other side of the world whoever wrote this is pure genious...

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Awsome
written by Kar Clench, February 14, 2009

this book is awsome

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i loooooooooved this book
written by Madso, June 04, 2009

this is the best book in the world

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