Bread and Honey

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	Print
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

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

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]

See also

• 1970 in Australian literature

References

1. Austlit - Bread and Honey by Ivan Southall
2. "Boy seeks truth" by Gwen Hutchings, The Canberra Times, 6 March 1971, p13