London 1950: a father makes the heart-wrenching decision to send four of his children to New Zealand for a better life.
Young Pat and one of her sisters are allowed to stay together when the four are adopted out, but they will never see their father again.
Many years after coming to New Zealand, Pat and her sister are reunited with their brother and sister and one other sister that didn’t travel to New Zealand with them.
Home Child hauntingly captures the experience of young children consigned to a new life in a strange country, with its sadness and also happy times.
This is the reality of the UK's child migrant policy in story form that today's children can read and digest.
Dawn McMillan recounts the essence of Pat’s experience, which is beautifully represented by illustrator Trish Bowles.
Included is biographical information about Pat (now living in Nelson) and her tireless work for child migrants in New Zealand, and an explanation of the history of the thousands of children that were sent all over the world from England.
In 2010 Pat represented New Zealand at the British Government’s official apology to child migrants. This is her story.
For more information on the 593 child migrants sent to New Zealand, see Te Ara, The Encyclopedia of New Zealand online: https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/1931/child-migrants-1949
As the UK-based Child Migrant Trust website writes:
Britain is the only country in the world with a sustained history of child migration ... The reality of this policy was to remove children, some as young as three years old from their mothers and fathers, from all that was familiar to them, and to ship them thousands of miles away from their home country to institutions in distant lands within the Commonwealth. Many of these children were removed without their parents' knowledge or consent.
Dawn McMillan is the much-loved author of numerous children’s books including the international hit I Need a New Bum! In this emotion-filled story she shows her writing talent is not restricted to humour. Dawn meticulously researched the story and developed a friendship with Pat. Trish Bowles is a well-respected and widely published illustrator. She lives in Christchurch.
Publication: 9 April 2019 | ISBN: 978-0-947506-58-2 | RRP $27.99
Hardback, 270 x 210 mm, 40 pages colour
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