Window

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Her one constant lifeline to the real world is her window, where she sits day after day, watching her neighbours. When the Russells move in, Anna is instantly drawn to them. A picture-perfect family of three, they are an echo of the life that was once hers. I hope so. What I’m hoping is that readers will feel a responsibility, that the way each one of us lives our lives, counts. But I also hope they’ll have an understanding of the way everything is related, how once you destroy the native vegetation of a place, the native birds aren’t going to come there anymore, the native animals aren’t going to come there anymore, even the insects.’ It may not be stretching things too far to suggest that Jeannie Baker believes she can change the world through her work. Perhaps that’s what motivates most great artists. In a sense, listening to information like that is something that everyone, I think, feels disturbed by, but it’s easy to think, ‘I don’t play a part in this.’ I’m trying to show exponential change, which is a concept many adults find difficult to understand, in a simplified way so that it can be understood. All the changes in the book have a pattern – all the natural things like birds, animals, trees, decrease exponentially alongside the manmade changes.’

Use the window frame template to draw the image that you can see from a window in your home / school today (see Resources below). The cyclical nature suggests that the boy and his new family have moved away to start afresh but doubt sets in as the reader is left to wonder whether the process will occur all over again.When I began this book, by a conservative estimate we were losing one species every hour. Two years later, by the time I’d finished the book, we were losing two species every hour. The projected rate, if we continue exponentially changing the world, is by the year 2000 we’ll be losing ten species an hour!’ How many different creatures can you identify in the illustrations? Can you find out more about some of them? Think of places where this story could be set. Are there any clues in the text to help you choose a location?

Baker's carefully assembled collages are impactful as enable the reader to realise that the small changes made to the environment add up to produce threatening outcomes. Window by Jeannie Baker is a picture book; its illustrations present the reader with the story of a boy and the view from his bedroom window of the landscape below. As he grows up, the area he observes gradually develops from a lush, rural wilderness to a highly urbanised scene. The message is clear: humans are drastically and directly changing the planet through their actions. Hodge proves that you can have anything you want in life if you dress for it, and in a life full of achievements, this book has to be the top of them all.' To sum it up in two words, it’s about exponential change, accelerating change. The book is really a metaphor for the changes that are happening in the world, including Australia. In my head, it’s set in the suburbs of Sydney, somewhere like Campbelltown, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. All the birds and vegetation shown in the book can be found at Campbelltown.’ Not quite sure what the boy was aiming at with the slingshot but I didn’t much like that picture. However, overall, the collage illustrations are outstanding. And there’s a cat!Draw what that view might have looked like ten years ago and how it might look ten more years in the future. Given that Jeannie is projecting one very strong idea, which by implication urges sustainable growth, it is likely she will be accused of producing propaganda. Is Window propaganda? My story is one of laughter and hedonism, dressing up and showing off. I played Queen in a parallel universe of glamour, rhinestones and couture outfits. It’s also one of alienation and loneliness and of always being the odd one out. I lived through AIDS, Princess Diana and Thatcher but came out singing and dancing my way through Soho and the West End. I survived a murder attempt and bankruptcy. I am still here. Now I paint my feelings and not my face and once again feel as if my journey is beginning. This is my truth. Grubby at times but mine to tell. Here it is. Uncensored." - David Hodge Baker provides the audience with the same viewpoint, a window, throughout the entire book. However, as the story progresses and time passes, the view that can be seen from the window gradually changes to show the consequences that occur over part of the boy's life. Changes that can be observed include building developments, a decrease in nature/ wildlife, deforestation, urbanisation and human population increase. The book ends with the boy, who is now grown up with his own child, stood at a new window with the view resembling the one at the very start of the book (and at the start of his childhood). I’m not saying that all changes are bad, and we have to live, but I think we should be more careful about the way we live.’

I just finished reading Baker’s book Home which I found uplifting. This book I found quite depressing. I am a city person but the humans overrunning these two landscapes I did not find appealing. What different materials can be seen outside of the window? Why have the man-made objects been created using those materials? There is an author’s note at the end, even though this story is fictional, about how wilderness is disappearing and how humans are impacting the planet. Her books would be good adjunct material to lessons on ecology and sustainability. The note has a tinge of hope, though I found it sobering, although not as depressing as the story itself. Describe what is happening to the population in the area around Sam’s house. How is the local area changing to accommodate this?The collages in the book have been exhibited in galleries around the world. Can you make a persuasive poster to encourage people to go and see them? After two decades in clubland, as drink and drugs started to take their toll and he feared he was developing his father’s alcoholic patterns, David changed his life yet again… Window is accessible for all ages and does not require any prior knowledge around the subject. However, discussion around the impact of humans on their environment and related issues would facilitate a deeper understanding of the book. An interesting feature of the book is that Baker doesn't use any words at all, leaving the pictures alone to tell the story. This, I think, makes it a great book to look at with children, in groups or individually, to see what they think is happening. It would be really interesting to see how different children interpret the illustrations differently. I suggested that rather than describing Window as a narrative, a better description for the book would be as a picture poem.