 Hi everyone, my name is Steph. This is Little Bookish Teacher and welcome or welcome back to my channel. Today I'm here to talk to you about some classic Australian pictures that have been around since 1994, but this is the first time that I have read them because they were recommended to me by a friend here on YouTube, Mel from a book called Mel, and that is The Water Tower and Beneath the Surface by Gary Crue and illustrated by Stephen Woolman. Now this series I remember when this first came out. I was still in primary school when The Water Tower was released and I remember seeing this cover and I was absolutely terrified of it. These are 100% picture books for older readers. I would not give these to younger readers because the content and the illustrations in here can be a little bit creepy and disturbing at times, but it was so good. They're the perfect thought provoking, a little bit spooky reads that you could read with older students and actually have a really good conversation about what they think is going on. These would also be perfect in a secondary setting as well because I think there is a lot to unpack. Now for reference Gary Crue, who is an Australian author, is a professor of creative writing, amongst other things, and he is also known for writing very thought-provoking books. And in fact these books leave off on cliffhangers, so you don't get a clear resolution and you have to know that going into it because you are going to be left thinking about these books for days after and I really should not have read this late at night. I should have waited till it was a bright daylight the first time because even as an adult it scared me a little bit. So in this one we have Bubba and Spike who are friends and they have decided to go to this abandoned water tower that is in their town and it's fenced off but they like going there and they like climbing to the top then climbing inside of it and going down to the and swimming in the water below, which the water below is really creepy as well so I don't know why anyone would do that. It just that freaks me out. But after they've been swimming they come out and Bubba's clothes have gone missing. So Spike offers to go back to town to go and get him his clothes and Bubba is waiting in the water tower and the whole time that he's there the people in the town are watching the water tower like they know that something is going on and at the very end we suspect that something has happened to Bubba even though he comes out of the water tower and gets stressed there's just a feeling you have that there is something not quite right. The way that this book is even constructed is really fascinating because throughout the course of the reading you actually end up turning the book almost 180 degrees total so it's actually laid out for you to turn the book around and read it in different orientations. The illustrations in here are as I said a little bit creepy when people are watching everything and then beneath the surface actually came out 10 years later and it is a follow-up to the water tower. This came out in 94 this came out in 2004. Spike is returning to the town he has a new name and people in the town go I knew a Spike lived here many years ago and he sort of plays it off but what we find out is that ever since that incident at the water tower Spike has been haunted by nightmares of this tower and he knows something's not quite right but he doesn't know what it is and now he's a doctor of hydration and he's come back to the town to investigate and to test the water because he doesn't know what's going on and again this book leaves off with a very open-ended ending so that in both of these we are left wondering what exactly is going on what is happening we have our suspicions and I think everyone's suspicions would probably be different which is why I think this makes a really great upper primary or secondary text because there is a lot of reading between the lines with this there is a lot of interpreting the illustrations contrasting with the text it was just a really interesting read I think one of the reviews calls it hauntingly beautiful and haunting is the perfect word to describe these two books so thank you very much to Mel who recommended them to me because I probably would have remained a scaredy cat and not picked them up otherwise because that's just a me thing but yeah these these are very very interesting very interesting read and I'm really glad that I've read them now and I'm going to be thinking about them for a very long time in the comments I would love to know if you have read the water tower and or beneath the surface and feel free to chat to me about them if you have otherwise if you have other recommendations for picture books that are for older readers that do have open endings and are a little bit haunting or spooky or creepy feel free to leave them down below as well I hope that we're on the world just staying safe and healthy and I will see you in my next video bye everyone