The Silver Donkey
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The Silver Donkey is a young-adult book written by Sonya Hartnett, set during World War II. The book traces the journey of a soldier who deserts the war and comes across two young girls. The girls help the soldier, who suffers psychological blindness as an effect of post-traumatic stress. The girls bring him food and he tells them tales of his childhood, how his brother is extremely ill, and how one day, whilst digging in the garden his brother found a silver donkey. The soldier carries this very silver donkey with him.
The story can be seen in two ways, from an adult's perspective, or from that of a child's innocence. The soldier's tales could very well be lies in order to get the girls to help him, but then there is the chance that he could be telling the truth.
The book won the 2005 Courier Mail award for young readers and the 2005 CBC Book of the Year award for young readers.
