Belinda Landsberry is an award-winning author and illustrator whose best-selling debut children’s picture book, Anzac Ted, was published internationally by EK Books in 2014. Today, Belinda is on the blog to talk all about her new picture book, Once, I Was Loved, and the joy that children’s toys have brought her over the years.
Read on!
One of the first things people asked me upon the release of my new picture book, Once, I was Loved, was: “What age range is it suitable for?” As it’s about a toy rabbit, the perception is that I wrote it for a young audience. Not so. Picture books are not just timeless, they’re ageless. Truly, picture books are the foundation stones upon which literacy is built. With this is mind, I wrote Once, I was Loved for all ages, so my response to this question is: “0-99 years… or beyond.”
It’s no coincidence that both Anzac Ted and Once, I Was Loved feature stories of love and kindness wrapped around cherished toys. I have always loved toys because, like pets, they embody some of the most important things in life: love, loyalty, hope, trust … and youth.
But toys are not just for the young. Toys keep us young.
Anzac Ted was created because my husband, David, brought a worn and torn old teddy bear with him when we were married. I’m not proud of my initial reaction. Hopelessly ignorant, I was blinkered by prejudice.
But looks can be deceiving. I later discovered this time-ravaged bear had been given to my husband by his father, Alf, who had plucked Ted from a gutter. As Alf had been conscripted in World War II, I wondered: ‘Could Ted have gone to war?’ And Anzac Ted was born.
Similarly, Once, I was Loved was inspired by my scouring Op Shops for drama costumes for my daughter. I’ve always been drawn to Op Shops, and as I literally meander down ‘Memory Lane’, the hats, gloves, jewellery and shoes all beckon with stories long lost.
But it’s the toys which call to me loudest.
Who were the children they had loved? What magic moments in history had they seen? If they could speak, what fascinating stories would they tell?
Sometimes, the voices from the past just long to be heard.
Back home, I peruse the cherished toys I’ve been gifted since childhood. Bill, my toy koala, is the oldest and most beloved. Given to me by my parents in 1964, I called Bill after the toy koala from the 1960s Australian television show, Playroom. But unlike his soporific namesake, my Bill lost both eyes, all four claws and endured an horrendous “haircut” inflicted by Yours Truly. And yet, despite his hardships, Bill faithfully saw me through childhood to adulthood. And while childhood heralds the magic of toys, adulthood brings the gift of understanding.
There’s William, the teddy I bought because I couldn’t bear (sorry) to separate him from his brother, Henry.
Matilda, who was discovered at a 1950s fair and plays Waltzing Matilda. Matilda is a big, fluffy koala who reminds me of Bill in his glory days.
Fittingly, the two are best friends. And of course there’s the original Anzac Ted (lovingly owned by my husband) and his uniformed counterpart, both of whom I take to schools for author-illustrator presentations.
I have long had a shelf in my study dedicated to toys that are as much a part of me as my books and art and stories are. Stuffed with both the wonder of childhood and the illumination of adulthood, my toys are not just a reminder of who I was, and of who I am yet to be.
They tug gently at my sleeve, so that I may continue to hope, to imagine … and to always believe.
—Belinda Landsberry
Find out more about Belinda and her books here
Once, I Was Loved
An old toy rabbit finds himself in a box of toys being donated to charity. "But it wasn’t always this way," Tock sadly reflects, "Once I was loved."
We rewind the clock to 1939 when a girl named Sam receives a toy rabbit for her 5th birthday. From that moment, Sam and Tock are...
Comments
March 7, 2022 at 10:28 am
Caan I buy and ANZAC TED toy bear?