Background
Like Joanne Horniman's other works, The Serpentine Belt (1994) and Loving Athena (1997), Sand Monkeys features the theme of the search for a lost parent, as well as the forging of strong bonds between characters who are not related by blood. [2]
In common with Joanne Horniman's other books, Sand Monkeys concerns people's interaction with the natural world - in this case, with the trees that Max raises and plants. She writes that this is "…not in the usual adventurous sense but in a more spiritual way. We are all connected with forces that we are only aware of some of the time…" [2]
Author Joanne Horniman is involved with preserving the native Australian flora of her region in New South Wales, collecting and planting native plant seeds. [1] In the novel, the main character Max reflects this concern in his project of raising native plants from seed, and planting them around his neighbourhood.
Plot summary
Sixteen year old Max arrives in a new household inhabited by several families and individuals. Among them there are a six-year-old boy named Mango; and a fifteen-year-old girl, Emma. Emma and her father Ted — an old friend of Max's parents — had arrived in the household some months earlier.
Max brings the tree seedlings which he has grown from seeds with him when he moves in. Whilst he develops friendships with the other children, Emma remains distant from him. She does not appear to like Max; struggling to find her place in the household. For all of Emma's life, she and Ted had constantly been moving from city to city. Since arriving in Sydney, Emma had secretly located and found her mother, whom she had never previously met.
Max's classmate Olivia finds a photograph of Max at the age of four, building a sandcastle with another child. Olivia asks about this other child, and remarks that she looks like Emma. Max feels sure it couldn't be Emma, whom he has only recently met.
Max and Emma begin planting Max's tree seedlings at railway stations and in public parks. Max begins to have a strange feeling that has known Emma for a long time. Meanwhile, a friendship develops between Olivia and Emma. It is through this friendship that Emma starts to find a real sense of belonging in the household.
The children offer the remaining trees to local residents, offering to plant them in their gardens. Mango asks what the trees will say to each other when they grow up and see each other over the roofs of the houses. Emma replies, "They’ll say, I’ve been waiting for ages to grow up and meet you. Where have you been all my life?”, [4] this comment making Max sense a spiritual connection between themselves and the trees.
Max looks through his photos again, and realises that the other child in the photo is in fact Emma, as one photo also shows Ted. Max's mother explains that Emma had lived with their family for some time when she was young.
Eventually, Ted and Emma leave the household to move to Brisbane. Emma leaves something for Max in her room: an old photo of the two of them playing in the sand. It is identical to Max's.
Araucaria araucana is an evergreen tree growing to a trunk diameter of 1–1.5 m (3–5 ft) and a height of 30–40 m (100–130 ft). It is native to central and southern Chile and western Argentina. Araucaria araucana is the hardiest species in the conifer genus Araucaria. Because of the prevalence of similar species in ancient prehistory, it is sometimes called a living fossil. It is also the national tree of Chile. Its conservation status was changed to Endangered by the IUCN in 2013 due to the dwindling population caused by logging, forest fires, and grazing.
Araucaria bidwillii, commonly known as the bunya pine and sometimes referred to as the false monkey puzzle tree, is a large evergreen coniferous tree in the plant family Araucariaceae. It is found naturally in south-east Queensland Australia and two small disjunct populations in north eastern Queensland's World Heritage listed Wet Tropics. There are many old planted specimens in New South Wales, and around the Perth, Western Australia metropolitan area. They can grow up to 30–45 m (98–148 ft). The tallest presently living is one in Bunya Mountains National Park, Queensland which was reported by Robert Van Pelt in January 2003 to be 169 feet (51.5 m) in height.
Ulmus glabraHudson, the wych elm or Scots elm, has the widest range of the European elm species, from Ireland eastwards to the Urals, and from the Arctic Circle south to the mountains of the Peloponnese and Sicily, where the species reaches its southern limit in Europe; it is also found in Iran. A large deciduous tree, it is essentially a montane species, growing at elevations up to 1,500 m (4,900 ft), preferring sites with moist soils and high humidity. The tree can form pure forests in Scandinavia and occurs as far north as latitude 67°N at Beiarn in Norway. It has been successfully introduced as far north as Tromsø, Norway and Alta, Norway (70°N). It has also been successfully introduced to Narsarsuaq, near the southern tip of Greenland (61°N).
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Malus domestica is a cultivar of apple that is usually eaten cooked due to its sourness. The variety comes from a pip planted by Mary Ann Brailsford. The Concise Household Encyclopedia states, "Some people eat this apple raw in order to cleanse the palate, but Bramley's seedling is essentially the fruit for tart, pie, or dumpling." Once cooked, however, it has a lighter flavour. A peculiarity of the variety is that when cooked it becomes golden and fluffy. Vitamin C 15mg/100g.
Ziziphus mauritiana, also known as Indian jujube, Indian plum, Chinese date, Chinese apple, ber, and dunks is a tropical fruit tree species belonging to the family Rhamnaceae. It is often confused with the closely related Chinese jujube, but whereas Z. jujuba prefers temperate climates, Z. mauritiana is tropical to subtropical.
Borassus is a genus of five species of fan palms, native to tropical regions of Africa, Asia and Papua New Guinea.
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This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1992.
