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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