A dark, disturbing, powerfully illustrated parable of non-conformity. ( )

As the voices in his life crowd in on him, Thomas looks for another way. Powerful illustrations and a spare text make a parable of Thomas's journey, which reflects the courage we all need to find our passion and be ourselves. ( )

A curious thing happens when Armin Greeder and Libby Gleeson collaborate. Words and images are pummelled together forming a torrent of ideas that carries the reader through the rapids of meaning of the story. Without consciousness the reader looses themselves into the story, into a wash of words and images that carry them deep into the meaning of the text. Throughout their creative partnership these artists have always taken the risk to tell authentic stories of tragedy and hope, despair and new beginnings. ‘I am Thomas’ is no different.

Although ‘I am Thomas’ is the reflection of Thomas on his dreams and imaginative hopes for the future he is drowned in the shouting of a conforming world. Enough to deafen or drown it is the courage of Thomas to determine his own path that we are left with.

Libby Gleeson writes to draw the reader in. ‘I am not the child I once was’, fills us with both the hope of an unnavigated future as well as the grief of lost richness, imaginative adventures of childhood. With this sentence, the reader is plunged into the story and given no choice but to identify themselves as the first person.

Armin Greeder uses design, colour and his unmistakable charcoal sketches to comfort, disturb and provoke. While the overbearing words threaten judgement upon Thomas, the images clearly direct them jaunts at the reader. There is no standing apart from this text. Once confronted by the demands of conformity and blindness we might find it easier to bend and join the masses. But not Thomas, and perhaps, if I am strong enough, not me.

Using the texts of Gleeson and Greder in the classroom is not difficult. The class conversation around the images is enough to leave the students questioning the text and then themselves. Drama, poetry and even choral readings spring easy from this rich story. Surely sometimes though, it is enough to read such a text and bathe in its depths. Identity, peer pressure and growing up in an often demeaning world is enough to connect with any student let alone adult.

'I am Thomas’ is a rebellious and powerfully independent message that no reader can stand apart. The only question we are left with is do we board the bus? ( )