This Is the House That Jack Built

Jack Building in Counterpoint - Colonizing New Zealand

The House That Jack Built (1999) by Gavin Bishop was Book of The Year in the 2000 New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards. Combining the words of the traditional nursery rhyme with pictures illustrating the colonization of New Zealand, the book is praised by critics and judges for the way in which "image and narrative counterpoint each other and invite reader/viewers to further explore the complexity of visual storytelling." (John L. McKenzie, Magpies)

Gavin Bishop writes:
"The pictures in this book are a metaphor for what happened when European traders, sealers, whalers and settlers arrived in Aotearoa/New Zealand during the early 19th century.

"It is 1798 when Jack Bull Esq. arrives in Aotearoa to find a land strong in spirit and tradition. The Maori, the people of the land, are eager to have his iron pots, nails and blankets to enhance their daily life. But Jack's arrival is followed by more and more people from Europe.
"To the Maori, the land is their Earth Mother, Papatuanuku, who gives life to all things. However, the settlers pressure the Maori to give up their land to build farms and towns, and Papatuanuku is divided and sold. Tension over the loss of tribal land, and the failure of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 to bind the two peoples together, leads to the Land Wars of the 1860s. Tumatauenga, god of war, calls the Maori people to fight for Papatuanuku. She grows strong once more and her presence fills the page. The remains of the 'house' that Jack built smoulders in the foreground as a symbol of the conflict.

"When Jack first builds his house, we see the land, sea and sky dominated by the Earth Mother, Papatuanuku, the Sky Father, Ranginui, and the eyes of their children. They are drawn in a style that reflects traditional Maori art forms.
"As the story unfolds and Jack's house continues to grow, the spirit of the Earth Mother weakens and fades. The pictures showing events through the eyes of the Europeans are naturalistic in style, while comments from a Maori perspective run around the borders of the page.
"On the last pages the conflict is recorded for future generations on the wall of a meeting house in a folk art style blending traditional Maori and European art forms. Both cultures are now intertwined in the rich history of Aotearoa."