Alison Lester's beloved children's book, Magic Beach, comes to life in a new film adaptation directed by Robert Connolly. The film follows the adventures of four children on a magical beach holiday, capturing the joy of childhood imagination and the special bond between families.
The second-to-last page in Alison Lester's classic children's book, Magic Beach, tugs at my heartstrings. It depicts a beach shack where four children are tucked into bed together, relishing the blissful sleep that only comes after a day of frolicking on the beach, discovering real and imagined treasures, and exploring rock pools and conquering waves. The sea outside the window whispers the promise of another day of adventure in the morning.
Lester's illustration perfectly encapsulates the warm comfort of a summer holiday spent away with cousins, the thrill of living a few days under the same roof. Some of the words on that evocative beach shack page are: 'At our beach, at our magic beach, the old bed is cosy and wide.' That's pretty much like the front room of the beach house that my mum bought when I was eight years old, that I share with my sisters now,' the Australian children's author-illustrator tells ABC Arts. Lester penned Magic Beach in 1990, partly recalling her own childhood beach escapades on the Victorian coast, but also after observing her three children at the beach. In another illustration, children ferry buckets of water from the shore to a sandcastle's moat; a happy child is nearly completely buried in the cool sand. Lester is delighted that her book continues to resonate; from her own childhood to that of her grandchildren, 'playing at the beach hasn't changed much,' she says.The scene replicates Lester's and her young family's beach experiences, and also mirrors how she and her family, now including nine grandchildren, still spend time together today. 'Out of view, just to the right, there's a big Boobialla tree that hangs over the beach and it's always shady, so that's always where the babies get put to sleep,' Lester says. 'Now, it's for the grandchildren; the babies always have a nap during the day, and the little blue wrens come and hop around them. It's a very special place.' Now, 35 years after the book's release, that special place has made its way to the screen, in a film adaptation of the book—also called Magic Beach—directed by Robert Connolly (Paper Planes, The Dry). For 20 years, Lester says there's been talk from different people about adapting her classic book to film, but until now, nothing has materialized. So, is Lester nervous about her work now, finally, making its way to new audiences through a new medium?'The movie refers back to the book and they've used illustrations from the book… and it still has that central part of Magic Beach, which is about kids and their imaginations,' she says. 'The movie is very much its own thing… I'm really happy for it to be a separate thing. I'm thrilled that something I made so long ago has been transformed into a beautiful movie.' In the film, just as in the book, there's whimsy and magic for children to absorb—but there's something Lester also hopes parents take away from it: a little prompt to remember to let kids run free sometimes. 'But it's easier said than done because, of course, we all want to protect and make sure they're safe. But I think we have to let them run and fall over… and even though it hurts a bit, they'll get up and they'll be stronger for it,' she says. 'If you're just controlling everything they do, they miss out on so much of the magic and the power of discovering the world for themselves.' In Magic Beach—as in so much of Lester's work—there's another message to be absorbed through her words and pictures. In part, Lester is mirroring her own life experience when she depicts a mother mowing the lawn, and a father pushing a trolley down the supermarket aisle, school kids in tow. Or, in Magic Beach, when a father keeps an eye on the kids swimming while a mother relaxes on the sand with a book.(Though, at the mention of the latter, Lester laughs and admits that's a 'fantasy': 'What do they say? 'The definition of an optimist is a mother who takes a book to the beach'.') Lester's message is serious, however; and as children today encounter restrictive gender norms just about everywhere they look, there is an almost radical sense of freedom in the pages of her books. 'I'm conscious of just hating those stereotypes where women get shoved into doing certain jobs, and I guess men, too. 'But I've always been a tomboy, and it just drives me crazy having to take the role of a 'little woman',' Lester says. The Magic Beach film is half live action and half animation. It's broken into 10 sections, each featuring a different child's (and one dog's) adventures and imagination. 'I hope people get it. It's very sweet… Every time I watch it, I come out just feeling very happy and relaxed and like it's been a very nice trip to go on. It's a very different movie for people who are used to going into watching a story and having everything explained. Magic Beach is at cinemas from January 16
CHILDREN's BOOKS MAGIC BEACH ALISON LESTER ROBERT Connolly FILM ADAPTATION ANIMATION FAMILY FILMS IMAGINATION BEACH HOLIDAY
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