Bread and Honey
 First edition | |
| Author | Ivan Southall |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's fiction |
| Publisher | Angus and Robertson |
Publication date | 1970 |
| Publication place | Australia |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 118 pp |
| ISBN | 0207954097 |
| Preceded by | Chinaman's Reef is Ours |
| Followed by | Josh |
Bread and Honey (1970) is a novel for children by Australian author Ivan Southall, illustrated by Wolfgang Grasse. It won the Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers in 1971.[1] It is also known by the alternative title Walk a Mile and Get Nowhere.
Plot outline
[edit]Michael Cameron is a thirteen-year-old boy living in a small country town in Australia with his father and grandmother after the death of his mother. On a wet Anzac Day, Michael meets and defends a nine-year-old girl from a local bully, and comes to appreciate the attitude of the adults around him and his place in the world.
Critical reception
[edit]Gwen Hutchings in The Canberra Times noted that the lead character's "problems hinge on the introspective and his innocent view of people in an every-day world, until the sham of it all is revealed in a moment of truth and he is a better person for knowing it. The idea shows purpose and the narrative is less emotional than in some previous novels."[2]