8 /10 1 Votes
Originally published 1964 Illustrator Robert Ingpen Adaptations Storm Boy (1976) | 4/5 Goodreads Genre Children's literature | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Characters Mr Ponder, Mike 'Storm Boy' Kingsley, Fingerbone, Mr Percival, Tom Kingsley, Mr Proud Similar Colin Thiele books, Australia books, Children's literature | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Storm Boy is a 1964 Australian children's book by Colin Thiele about a boy and his pelican. The book concentrates on the relationships he has with his father, the pelican, and an outcast Aboriginal man called Fingerbone.
Contents
The story has been dramatised several times. The film adaptation Storm Boy won the Jury and Best Film prizes at the 1977 AFI Awards.
Plot summary
Storm Boy likes to wander alone along the fierce deserted coast among the dunes that face out into the Southern Ocean. After a pelican mother is shot, Storm Boy rescues the three chicks, and nurses them back to health. He names them Mr Proud, Mr Ponder and Mr Percival. After he releases them, his favourite, Mr Percival, returns. The story then concentrates on the conflict between his lifestyle and the externally imposed requirement for him to attend a school, and the fate of the pelican.
Adaptations
The 1976 film adaptation Storm Boy won both the Jury Prize and Best Film at the 1977 Australian Film Institute Awards. The film starred Australian Aboriginal actor David Gulpilil in the role of Finger Bone and Greg Rowe in the title role. The film was advertised with the tagline "Every year has its special film, this year it's...Storm Boy".
An audio dramatisation was made in 1994. The Bell Shakespeare Company toured Australia with the play of Storm Boy in 1996, with Trent Atkinson in the title role.
The Sydney Theatre Company performed Tom Holloway's stage adaptation in 2013 and 2015 in collaboration with Perth's Barking Gecko Theatre company.