What do you think?
Rate this book
My Friend Tertius
A delightful and heartwarming picture book about a WWII code-breaker and his pet gibbon, from best-selling creators Corinne Fenton and Owen Swan.
One question kept echoing in my mind - if I had to leave, what would I do with Tertius?
This is the true story of two lives brought together by chance. Arthur Cooper, working in intelligence for the British Government in pre-war Hong Kong, rescues a small gibbon and names him Tertius. Together they escape to a safe place - but is it for always?
One question kept echoing in my mind - if I had to leave, what would I do with Tertius?
This is the true story of two lives brought together by chance. Arthur Cooper, working in intelligence for the British Government in pre-war Hong Kong, rescues a small gibbon and names him Tertius. Together they escape to a safe place - but is it for always?
32 pages, Hardcover
Published March 1, 2017
7 people want to read
About the author
Corinne Fenton
40 books11 followersCorinne Fenton has established a reputation for writing beautiful picture-book histories of animals whose lives have become legendary.
Her award-winning books include:Queenie: One Elephant's Story, The Dog on the Tuckerbox and Bob the Railway Dog. Her titles Little Dog and the Christmas Wish and One Christmas Eve, were chosen as themes for the Myer Christmas Windows.
Her award-winning books include:Queenie: One Elephant's Story, The Dog on the Tuckerbox and Bob the Railway Dog. Her titles Little Dog and the Christmas Wish and One Christmas Eve, were chosen as themes for the Myer Christmas Windows.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 29, 2017
A beautiful story about a WWII code-breaker and his best friend - his gibbon, Tertius. Who doesn't love a story about a man and his monkey? Tertius is funny, cheeky, sometimes naughty, but also clever and loving. Despite the horrors of war, this is a gentle and tender story. The illustrations beautifully convey the streets of Hong Kong, Singapore, then Australia in soft colours mirroring the gentleness of the story. I loved it - and am now on a mission to find out more about Arthur Cooper and his gibbon. This would make a lovely novel for younger readers - wonder if that is in the pipeline?...
February 10, 2017
I received a copy of this title from Allen & Unwin for review.
Ten Second Synopsis:
A WWII code breaker working in Singapore for the British takes a gibbon for a pet. When the war forces him to leave Singapore, he makes the decision not to abandon his friend, but smuggle him along on the journey.
There certainly is a dearth of war related picture books featuring a gibbon on the market, so My Friend Tertius fills that niche nicely. The washed out colour palette is reminiscent of the tropical heat of the southern hemisphere, and there are many historical clues hidden in the pictures for keen-eyed young readers to inquire about - the radio set in Arthur's room for instance, Arthur's neatly initialed gladstone bag and the fact that most pictures of people show at least somebody smoking a cigarette.
This was a bit of a strange beast of a tale for me. On one hand, it is fascinating, unexpected and had me immediately questioning the hows and whys of the story. On the other, the picture book format meant that I didn't get the answers I was looking for. The narrative begins abruptly with a question that presupposes a knowledge of the social context of war generally - that people might have to leave - and the War in the Pacific specifically - that people did have to leave Singapore, with or without their loved ones. The book has no afterword giving more information about Arthur Cooper and the eventual fate of either man or gibbon, and the book finishes on the rather cryptic statement "He [Tertius] taught me how to love." This is cryptic because nowhere in the previous pages of the book is there any mention of Arthur having any particular difficulty with human emotions, so I found myself asking, "How? How did he teach you to love? And why didn't you know how to love in the first place?!"
These questions, as well as my inner pedant's shock at Arthur's laissez faire attitude toward animal quarantine issues, meant that this wasn't a particularly satisfying read for me as an adult reader, and I wonder how it might be received by the upper primary age range for which it is intended. To be honest, I would have loved to have seen this story told in a chapter book format because I suspect there is so much more to the story than is being shown, and it is a pity not to be privy to it.
Ten Second Synopsis:
A WWII code breaker working in Singapore for the British takes a gibbon for a pet. When the war forces him to leave Singapore, he makes the decision not to abandon his friend, but smuggle him along on the journey.
There certainly is a dearth of war related picture books featuring a gibbon on the market, so My Friend Tertius fills that niche nicely. The washed out colour palette is reminiscent of the tropical heat of the southern hemisphere, and there are many historical clues hidden in the pictures for keen-eyed young readers to inquire about - the radio set in Arthur's room for instance, Arthur's neatly initialed gladstone bag and the fact that most pictures of people show at least somebody smoking a cigarette.
This was a bit of a strange beast of a tale for me. On one hand, it is fascinating, unexpected and had me immediately questioning the hows and whys of the story. On the other, the picture book format meant that I didn't get the answers I was looking for. The narrative begins abruptly with a question that presupposes a knowledge of the social context of war generally - that people might have to leave - and the War in the Pacific specifically - that people did have to leave Singapore, with or without their loved ones. The book has no afterword giving more information about Arthur Cooper and the eventual fate of either man or gibbon, and the book finishes on the rather cryptic statement "He [Tertius] taught me how to love." This is cryptic because nowhere in the previous pages of the book is there any mention of Arthur having any particular difficulty with human emotions, so I found myself asking, "How? How did he teach you to love? And why didn't you know how to love in the first place?!"
These questions, as well as my inner pedant's shock at Arthur's laissez faire attitude toward animal quarantine issues, meant that this wasn't a particularly satisfying read for me as an adult reader, and I wonder how it might be received by the upper primary age range for which it is intended. To be honest, I would have loved to have seen this story told in a chapter book format because I suspect there is so much more to the story than is being shown, and it is a pity not to be privy to it.
March 14, 2017
A slice of history, delivered in a heartwarming picture book. Great story and well told. Loved the gorgeous Tertius and his loyal human companion.
April 29, 2018
I often find war-time picture books hard to swallow (as someone who has no personal experience of war). They are often too solemn, too brutal, sometimes a bit too dull, or just simply too difficult to relate. But this book is different. It's a true story, with so much twist and turn of emotions, like a roller coaster ride where the readers can't exactly be sure what would come next.
The illustrations are soft, nostalgic, and filled with old-style items from the 1940s era: rickshaws, antique radio, black rotary phone, Gladstone portmanteau bag, and an old tram passing by the iconic Flinders Street railway station of Melbourne. We follow the story of Arthur Cooper (an intelligence officer for the British Government during 1940s) and his journey from the old-time Hong Kong, tropical Singapore, to Australia, bringing with him a baby gibbon called Tertius. We can only imagine those surge of different emotions experienced by the character during those extraordinary times.
I frowned looking at the gibbon being restraint with chain on his neck, smiled reading about the really cute childlike behavior of the gibbon (stole a key away and refused to give it back, watching lychees tumbling down the stairs, waking the owner up by prising his eyelids apart). Then came the horror of war, the fear of seeing japanese fighter planes soared overhead, the clambering under the desk when the raid siren wailed, the burning away of all papers and photographs, and the difficult choice of whether to leave behind the gibbon or ran away with it (its presence itself might hinder Arthur Cooper from successfully ran away from the war-torn city).
We felt the momentary peace and joy when Arthur Cooper and the gibbon enjoyed their time with the children in an old steamship bound for Australia, and the anxiety of seeing how the gibbon being smuggled onto the land by staying quiet in a bag. I could only imagine the ups and downs of the character's life, running around with a gibbon from Perth to Adelaide and to Melbourne (a really long journey!), all the while attempted to hide it away from the authorities looking out for an illegal monkey.
(Spoiler ahead) The gibbon was at last being captured, and we felt the tension, wondering whether Tertius would be put to death. He was sent to the Melbourne zoo in the end, and was being taken care of really well. (Being a frequent visitor of the Melbourne zoo, it makes me wonder whether Tertius's descendants are still living in the zoo.)
I can see the moral concerns of bringing an exotic animal into a foreign land, contravening all laws regarding quarantines and declarations etc. But we probably need to remember that the story occurred in the war era, where a person's concern of staying together with his love one (be it a human being or animals) would probably trump all other considerations such as following the animal restriction laws.
This book involves some complicated themes and emotions that younger children might not be able to understand: the difficult choices in life, on how much we are willing to sacrifice for someone (or some pet/animal) that we love, on the controversial views on what is best for someone or something, whether we are being selfish for doing what we chose to do, and whether things would have turned out differently (for better or for worse) if we have taken a different path.
23-month old little-AJ is still too young to appreciate the beauty of this story (although he loves looking at the little gibbon pictures), but I hope one day he will come to love this book too. The last paragraph of the book sums up the story and the debates succinctly- "I often asked myself if I'd done the right thing taking Tertius from Hong Kong. At that time, Tertius was the most important thing of all to me. In many ways he changed me forever. He taught me how to love."
I think he made the right choice.
Blog review here: https://storypleasemummy.wordpress.co...
The illustrations are soft, nostalgic, and filled with old-style items from the 1940s era: rickshaws, antique radio, black rotary phone, Gladstone portmanteau bag, and an old tram passing by the iconic Flinders Street railway station of Melbourne. We follow the story of Arthur Cooper (an intelligence officer for the British Government during 1940s) and his journey from the old-time Hong Kong, tropical Singapore, to Australia, bringing with him a baby gibbon called Tertius. We can only imagine those surge of different emotions experienced by the character during those extraordinary times.
I frowned looking at the gibbon being restraint with chain on his neck, smiled reading about the really cute childlike behavior of the gibbon (stole a key away and refused to give it back, watching lychees tumbling down the stairs, waking the owner up by prising his eyelids apart). Then came the horror of war, the fear of seeing japanese fighter planes soared overhead, the clambering under the desk when the raid siren wailed, the burning away of all papers and photographs, and the difficult choice of whether to leave behind the gibbon or ran away with it (its presence itself might hinder Arthur Cooper from successfully ran away from the war-torn city).
We felt the momentary peace and joy when Arthur Cooper and the gibbon enjoyed their time with the children in an old steamship bound for Australia, and the anxiety of seeing how the gibbon being smuggled onto the land by staying quiet in a bag. I could only imagine the ups and downs of the character's life, running around with a gibbon from Perth to Adelaide and to Melbourne (a really long journey!), all the while attempted to hide it away from the authorities looking out for an illegal monkey.
(Spoiler ahead) The gibbon was at last being captured, and we felt the tension, wondering whether Tertius would be put to death. He was sent to the Melbourne zoo in the end, and was being taken care of really well. (Being a frequent visitor of the Melbourne zoo, it makes me wonder whether Tertius's descendants are still living in the zoo.)
I can see the moral concerns of bringing an exotic animal into a foreign land, contravening all laws regarding quarantines and declarations etc. But we probably need to remember that the story occurred in the war era, where a person's concern of staying together with his love one (be it a human being or animals) would probably trump all other considerations such as following the animal restriction laws.
This book involves some complicated themes and emotions that younger children might not be able to understand: the difficult choices in life, on how much we are willing to sacrifice for someone (or some pet/animal) that we love, on the controversial views on what is best for someone or something, whether we are being selfish for doing what we chose to do, and whether things would have turned out differently (for better or for worse) if we have taken a different path.
23-month old little-AJ is still too young to appreciate the beauty of this story (although he loves looking at the little gibbon pictures), but I hope one day he will come to love this book too. The last paragraph of the book sums up the story and the debates succinctly- "I often asked myself if I'd done the right thing taking Tertius from Hong Kong. At that time, Tertius was the most important thing of all to me. In many ways he changed me forever. He taught me how to love."
I think he made the right choice.
Blog review here: https://storypleasemummy.wordpress.co...
September 2, 2019
This was a delightful surprise for a random selection at the library. When I started reading it to the kids, I thought there must be pages missing at the front because it starts in the middle of the story: Hong Kong, 1941, when the main character, Arthur Cooper, working in intelligence for the British Government, is trying to decide what to do with his pet gibbon, Tertius, if he has to leave Hong Kong. Arthur and Tertius do leave Hong Kong for Singapore, where they stay until Arthur is ordered to evacuate following the fall of Singapore in 1942. What follows is a heinous breach of Australian biosecurity laws.
The illustrations are lovely and the considerable research that went into the book (evident from the acknowledgements) is impressive. The description of the Japanese invasion of Singapore is pretty scary for kids, but my kids (9+ 7 yo) found this very engaging.
The illustrations are lovely and the considerable research that went into the book (evident from the acknowledgements) is impressive. The description of the Japanese invasion of Singapore is pretty scary for kids, but my kids (9+ 7 yo) found this very engaging.
August 9, 2017
I was at the library today filling in some time. I realised it was Children's Book Week later this month and picked up My Friend Tertius by Corinne Fenton. A lovely read for children, but one also for adults who like a nice, fuzzy, feeling read. It is a true story about Arthur Cooper who worked in inteligence for British Government in Hong Kong. He rescues a gibbon, Tertius, and illegally brings him into Australia. They form a wonderful friendship, and and there is some fun and games along the way. The ending is a bit sad as officials step in, but Tertius is always well looked after.
July 24, 2017
I cannot fault this picture book at all. Works well with the Australian Curriculum (Australia and its relationship to Asia), is a gorgeous historic story,has a very atmospheric setting, and the illustrator displays attention to detail by including the correct names of 1940s train lines at Flinders Street Station. What more could a reader want? This book is best enjoyed read out loud. Recommended.
August 27, 2019
A man saves a gibbon during WWII.
Quite a simple (true) story but still engaging.
Reading time around thirty minutes.
Quite a simple (true) story but still engaging.
Reading time around thirty minutes.
February 7, 2017
Unique, fascinating and engaging. Swans illustrations will have you swooning.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews