Argus

Michelle Knudsen (author)

Andrea Wesson (illustrator)

Walker Books, UK, Australia: 2011

ISBN: 9781406331370

Genres: allegory, picture book

Issues: differences, gifted, perspective

When Sally's teacher hands out the eggs that are the students' new science project, Sally isn't quite sure. Hers seems to look... different. But Mrs Henshaw tells her not to be difficult, so Sally tries to go along with the idea. But when the hatching starts, it's soon obvious that Sally's ‘chick' definitely isn't the same as the others. For a start it's green. And scaly. And it has big, yellow eyes.

Argus, as Sally names her chick, seems to be different in other ways, too. He grows faster. He eats different things. Just by being himself he begins to make life rather challenging for Sally, who just wants to be the same as everybody else. But when Argus goes missing, Sally finds that she's not quite as happy about that as she expected to be.

A very clever allegorical tale, Argus explores the ideas of difference and ‘otherness' that can be felt by anybody who doesn't quite fit into whatever society has decided is ‘normal'. Whether it's giftedness, disabilities, learning difficulties, language differences or some inner feeling of alien-ness, Argus helps young readers realise that different can be difficult - but it can also be wonderful. Wesson's detailed illustrations provide the visual reader with a great deal of stimulation, as well as reinforcing both the pathos and humour of the narrative.

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