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The Angel With a Mouth-Organ
Just before the glass angel is put on the Christmas tree, Mother describes her experiences as a little girl during World War II when she and her family were refugees and how the glass angel came to symbolize a new beginning in their lives.
- GenresChristmasYoung Adult
30 pages, Library Binding
First published January 1, 1984
24 people want to read
About the author
Christobel Mattingley
68 books12 followersChristobel Mattingley has been writing since she was eight years old and had her first pieces published in the children's pages of magazines and newspapers. Her first book, The Picnic Dog, was published in 1970, when she had three young children. While they were growing up she worked as a librarian in schools and in a teachers' college. She has been self-employed as a writer since 1974 and has travelled widely in Australia and overseas, speaking in schools and libraries. Christobel Mattingley has published over 30 books for children. Some of her works have been translated into other languages, have won various awards in Australia and the USA, and have been made into films for ABC Television. For most of the 1980s she worked with Aboriginal people and researched the history Survival in Our Land. In 1990 she received the Advance Australia Award for Service to Literature, and in 1996 she was made a Member of the Order of Australia for service to literature, particularly children's literature, and for community service through her commitment to social and cultural issues. No Gun for Asmir received a High Commendation in the Australian Human Rights Awards of 1994.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 16, 2019
I remember having the author come and visit us in the library at my primary school. I have a terrible memory usually, but this I will never forget. I will go home and try and find this book tonight and show it to my seven year old son. He doesn't love books as much as his mum, but I will always hold out hope!
November 17, 2015
In the minimalist world of today's picture books, this story has far too many words. Probably ten or twenty times too many. It's a sobering thought that just one generation back there were such books as these: books dealing with war and displacement, grief and hope, partings and reunion.
Based on the illustrator's own background, this is the story of a family's survival during the Second World War. Told with sensitivity and subtlety, the story allows the horror of the family's displacement to be glimpsed but also shields the reader from the impact.
The two sisters, Lena and Anna, sing to console others and to comfort themselves. Wherever they go, they carry the tunes their father used to play on his mouth organ.
Only when one of the sisters destroys the baby Jesus in the Christmas crib does the pain of waiting and the stress of hoping against hope become evident. Yet this is ultimately a story of hope: the one-armed father returns to his family - having found them through the songs they'd sung. As he'd travelled looking for them, he'd play his mouth organ. People would recognise the tunes and say to him, 'You must be Lena and Anna's father.'
With him he brings 'the angel with the mouth organ'.
The illustrations are exquisite.
Based on the illustrator's own background, this is the story of a family's survival during the Second World War. Told with sensitivity and subtlety, the story allows the horror of the family's displacement to be glimpsed but also shields the reader from the impact.
The two sisters, Lena and Anna, sing to console others and to comfort themselves. Wherever they go, they carry the tunes their father used to play on his mouth organ.
Only when one of the sisters destroys the baby Jesus in the Christmas crib does the pain of waiting and the stress of hoping against hope become evident. Yet this is ultimately a story of hope: the one-armed father returns to his family - having found them through the songs they'd sung. As he'd travelled looking for them, he'd play his mouth organ. People would recognise the tunes and say to him, 'You must be Lena and Anna's father.'
With him he brings 'the angel with the mouth organ'.
The illustrations are exquisite.
November 9, 2015
A true story of hope for war-torn refugees, beautifully told and illustrated
In the 1980s, Christobel Mattingley (a famous and prize-winning Australian children’s author, but sadly neglected in the rest of the English-reading world!) spent time with her family overseas. Always on the lookout for a good story, Mattingley found several. Of these, The Angel With the Mouth-Organ is one of the most moving – and based on real events.
In some ways this picture-story book about war-displaced refugees anticipates her remarkable later trilogy of non-fiction stories about Asmir and his family, refugees from the civil wars in the former Yugoslavia – also very highly recommended. (Mattingley and her family were instrumental in helping Asmir and his family to escape the fighting , and reach the safety of Western Europe – a story for our times!)
Importantly, during Mattingley’s time away from Australia, and her involvement with several illustrators of her books, led to further serious work. The Angel With a Mouth-Organ (1984, illustrated brilliantly by Astra Lacis) is a story of displaced people during World War II. It was developed from real events in the life of Astra Lacis’ father, and other people.
The story begins and ends with a family decorating a Christmas tree.
Two children squabble about who should place the last, most important decoration. Their mother (pregnant with a third child) intervenes, and tells them again the story of the decoration.
This is where the story really begins. It is the (true) story of the book, of the dark times when the mother was a little girl, and her father, who had only one arm, played a mouth-organ. One day enemy planes attack their village, burning houses, then soldiers come and take away all the able-bodied men. Packing their few remaining possessions in a cart pulled by a cow, the family joins a column of forlorn refugees.
Terrible things happen. The family’s grandmother dies, babies die, people slowly starve, planes strafe the column, the father is taken away by soldiers, the mother and the little girl and her sister are shifted from one refugee camp to another.
Eventually the war ends.
For bleak months, as seasons change, and injured, haunted soldiers return, everything seems hopeless.
Struggling to remain hopeful, the two girls sing their father’s old songs, trying to keep their hearts warm.
But eventually there is a terrible moment when the older sister despairs at the sight of a Christmas crib scene, and in her distress she smashes the figure of the Baby. Saddened by this, the younger sister secretly replaces the broken pieces with her own loved one-armed (!) doll.
Happily, at long last the father returns. He is carrying a piece of broken stained-glass window from a church: it is the picture of an angel playing – like the father a mouth-organ. This rescued, fragmentary image has sustained him, as he has played his family’s familiar tunes in refugee camps, inquiring at every stage, searching desperately for his family.
Re-united but displace by the cruelties of the war, the family must now begin to search for a new home …
And then, at the end of the book, years later, with the little girl now a grown up married woman, with children of her own in her new home, the decoration – the stained glass angel with the mouth-organ, is still treasured. Each Christmas it takes pride of place at the top of the family’s Christmas tree bringing a message of peace even to squabbling children, a symbol of hope and survival.
Beautifully told (it brings tears to my eyes simply remembering as I write this review), and beautifully illustrated! Very highly recommended!!
John Gough – Deakin University (retired) – jagough49@gmail.com
In the 1980s, Christobel Mattingley (a famous and prize-winning Australian children’s author, but sadly neglected in the rest of the English-reading world!) spent time with her family overseas. Always on the lookout for a good story, Mattingley found several. Of these, The Angel With the Mouth-Organ is one of the most moving – and based on real events.
In some ways this picture-story book about war-displaced refugees anticipates her remarkable later trilogy of non-fiction stories about Asmir and his family, refugees from the civil wars in the former Yugoslavia – also very highly recommended. (Mattingley and her family were instrumental in helping Asmir and his family to escape the fighting , and reach the safety of Western Europe – a story for our times!)
Importantly, during Mattingley’s time away from Australia, and her involvement with several illustrators of her books, led to further serious work. The Angel With a Mouth-Organ (1984, illustrated brilliantly by Astra Lacis) is a story of displaced people during World War II. It was developed from real events in the life of Astra Lacis’ father, and other people.
The story begins and ends with a family decorating a Christmas tree.
Two children squabble about who should place the last, most important decoration. Their mother (pregnant with a third child) intervenes, and tells them again the story of the decoration.
This is where the story really begins. It is the (true) story of the book, of the dark times when the mother was a little girl, and her father, who had only one arm, played a mouth-organ. One day enemy planes attack their village, burning houses, then soldiers come and take away all the able-bodied men. Packing their few remaining possessions in a cart pulled by a cow, the family joins a column of forlorn refugees.
Terrible things happen. The family’s grandmother dies, babies die, people slowly starve, planes strafe the column, the father is taken away by soldiers, the mother and the little girl and her sister are shifted from one refugee camp to another.
Eventually the war ends.
For bleak months, as seasons change, and injured, haunted soldiers return, everything seems hopeless.
Struggling to remain hopeful, the two girls sing their father’s old songs, trying to keep their hearts warm.
But eventually there is a terrible moment when the older sister despairs at the sight of a Christmas crib scene, and in her distress she smashes the figure of the Baby. Saddened by this, the younger sister secretly replaces the broken pieces with her own loved one-armed (!) doll.
Happily, at long last the father returns. He is carrying a piece of broken stained-glass window from a church: it is the picture of an angel playing – like the father a mouth-organ. This rescued, fragmentary image has sustained him, as he has played his family’s familiar tunes in refugee camps, inquiring at every stage, searching desperately for his family.
Re-united but displace by the cruelties of the war, the family must now begin to search for a new home …
And then, at the end of the book, years later, with the little girl now a grown up married woman, with children of her own in her new home, the decoration – the stained glass angel with the mouth-organ, is still treasured. Each Christmas it takes pride of place at the top of the family’s Christmas tree bringing a message of peace even to squabbling children, a symbol of hope and survival.
Beautifully told (it brings tears to my eyes simply remembering as I write this review), and beautifully illustrated! Very highly recommended!!
John Gough – Deakin University (retired) – jagough49@gmail.com
February 26, 2011
This is such a beautiful book that I read often as a child, and have been searching for for a while.
It deals with terribly sad and heavy topics with simplicity, allowing a child to understand some of the devastation of war without overburdening them with the total horror of it.
The illustrations carry the story beautifully.
It deals with terribly sad and heavy topics with simplicity, allowing a child to understand some of the devastation of war without overburdening them with the total horror of it.
The illustrations carry the story beautifully.
January 1, 2023
Refugees (WWII) walking, seeking, waiting: hopeful, resilient. Music carries them forward & brings them together ❤️
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews