Sand Monkeys
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Contents |
[edit] Introduction
Sand Monkeys is a novel for young readers by the Australian writer Joanne Horniman, published in 1992 by Omnibus Books. The author's work on the novel was assisted by a writer's grant from the Australia Council.
Sand Monkeys follows a period in the life a sixteen year old boy named Max, upon moving into a new household in Petersham, an inner suburb of Sydney Australia. The narrative is framed by a series of letters which Max writes to his friend Socrates, in which Max describes his feelings about the events in the story.
[edit] Synopsis
Sixteen year old Max arrives in a new household inhabited by several families and individuals. Household members tend to share an 'alternative' lifestyle characterised by a concern for the environment and social activism. The household consists of two joined houses, the children living in one, Children, and the adults in the other, Anarchy. Max meets the other occupants of Children, an eleven year old girl named Sunny and her six year old brother Mango; and a fifteen year old girl, Emma. Emma and her father Ted — an old friend of Max's parents — had arrived in the household some months earlier. The other adults living in Anarchy are Max's parents Brian and Monica; Sunny and Mango's mother Emily; and Sean, a university academic.
Max brings the tree seedlings which he has grown from seeds with him when he moves in. He quickly develops friendships with the other inhabitants of the household, save for the enigmatic Emma, who remains distant and does not appear to like Max.
Whilst Max develops friendships with the other children, and with his classmate Olivia, Emma struggles to find and identity and her place in the household. For all of Emma's life, she and Ted have constantly been moving from city to city. Since Emma and Ted moved in Sydney, Emma had secretly located and found her mother, whom she had never previously met. At a meal in their household, Emma meets Gene, an environmental activist. She finds some sense of identity and excitement in associating with Gene. She later joins Gene in a nighttime raid on a whaling ship, where environmental slogans are painted on the ship's side, although Emma remains in the car during this.
Olivia browses through Max's old photographs, and finds one of Max at the age of four, building a sandcastle with another child. Olivia asks about this other child who appears in many of the photos, and remarks that the girl looks like Emma. Max feels sure it couldn't be Emma, whom he has only recently met.
Max and Emma begin planting Max's tree seedlings at railway stations and in public parks. Max begins to have a strange feeling that has known Emma for a long time. Meanwhile, a friendship develops between Olivia and Emma. It is through this friendship that Emma starts to find a real sense of belonging in the household.
The children offer the remaining trees to local residents, offering to plant them in their gardens. Mango asks what the trees will say to each other when they grow up and see each other over the roofs of the houses. Emma replies, "They’ll say, I’ve been waiting for ages to grow up and meet you. Where have you been all my life?” [1]
Max feels that he can tune into what Emma is feeling, and detects her love for her mother. He looks through his photos again, and realises that the other child in the photo is in fact Emma, as one photo also shows Ted. Max's mother explains that Emma had lived with their family for some time when she was young.
On visiting Olivia, Emma explains that Max is really her brother, given away by her mother, then corrects herself: she made up that story.
Eventually, Ted and Emma leave the household to move to Brisbane, with the whole household seeing them off at the railway station. On departing, Emma tells Max she has left something for him in her room. Upon returning to the house, Max goes to Emma's room and finds a photo of two children playing in the sand, identical to his, but battered and creased. Emma has written a note to Max, "I found this in Ted’s things a long time ago. Carted it around with me as long as I can remember. I used to pretend that the kid in the picture with me was my long-lost brother."[2] Max cries.
[edit] Notes
- The title of the book comes from a notation on the back of Emma's photo, where Max's mother refers to Max and Emma as "...our two little sand monkeys" [3]
