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Stories to make mountains start breathing.

Article Excerpt
When Popeye Bobby walks in, everybody stands back. He's real gentle this old fulla, but no one messes with him, neither. He's real powerful ... He can tell you stories that make mountains start breathing.

--from The Binna Binna Man by Meme McDonald and Boori Monty Pryor

In 1998, at the height of a popular movement for social, political, and spiritual reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, a remarkable book was published. Maybe Tomorrow is a memoir, written by Boori Monty Pryor, an Aboriginal Australian who hails from the Kunggandji and Birra-gubba nations of far north Queensland, and his partner Meme McDonald--a migaloo jalbu, or "white woman," in Boori's peoples' language. Maybe Tomorrow tells of Boori's life as an Aboriginal man living between two cultures; his work as a storyteller and performer in schools, prisons, and libraries; his family and the many tragedies they have faced. The memoir's perspective on the often-difficult relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australia is particularly noteworthy because it is told with dignity, humor, optimism, and a total lack of bitterness or anger. It's a book I believe every Australian ought to read.

Maybe Tomorrow also signaled the beginning of an unusual creative collaboration. Meme and Boori have since co-authored four novels for children and teenagers. My Girragundji, The Binna Binna Man, and Njunjul the Sun are narrated by a young Aboriginal boy who ages from about twelve to young adulthood over the course of the novels. They tell the story of a boy caught between two worlds--the old ways of his Aboriginal culture and the contemporary migaloo (white) world. The fourth novel, Flytrap, is based on a real event in the life of Meme's daughter Grace. All four novels are illustrated with photographs taken by Meme, using members of Boori's family to represent characters in the stories.

In My Girragundji, the boy is frightened at home by a bad spirit, a Hairyman, and by his parents' unpredictable moods. At school he's picked on by bullies for being Aboriginal, and in turn he bullies his sisters. One night, terrified that the Hairyman is coming for him, he begs his ancestors for help, and a green tree frog--a girragundji--lands on him. The frog becomes more than a pet to the boy--she's a talisman, a protector, sent by the ancestors, and...

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