Tough Boris is a book written by Mem Fox, the same Australian author who wrote Hattie and the Fox and Koala Lou. One thing I love about Mem Fox is that all of her books are really different. She also works with many different illustrators. In Tough Boris, the illustrator, Kathryn Brown, creates interesting illustrations that actually show a parallel story.
We think of someone who is "tough" as someone who either is physically strong or someone who can handle anything (or both). Physical and mental toughness are celebrated traits. In the past, having a "stiff upper lip" was lauded, especially in men. Tough Boris is the story of a pirate captain who exudes toughness. The adjectives "massive," "fearless," and "scary" are used to describe him to the reader. The words and story structure in Tough Boris are simple. After introducing Boris, a pattern emerges: "Boris is X. All pirates are X." The illustrations describe the adjective. When it says, "Boris is massive. All pirates are massive," the illustration shows Boris standing tall over all of the other pirates with his parrot. The pirates show their mass by heaving a treasure chest onto the ship and climbing from the small rowboat onto the large ship with no help.
If you only read the word in Tough Boris, you will hear about what Boris is like for the first 2/3 of the story, then you will read that he cries when his parrot dies. The words set up that even a pirate has feelings. However, Mem Fox and Kathryn Brown work together to reveal that there is much more happening, starting before the words even begin. The dedication page shows a pirate ship out in the ocean, a rowboat full of pirates approaching shore, a windmill, and a boy with a violin on a cliff watching the pirates. In the next few pages, read that Boris and the pirates are tough and massive, and we do not see the boy. We do see one of the pirates has a violin case. The next page shows Boris taking the violin from the other pirate and also a small figure climbing the ropes in the background. This is where the parallel story starts being told through the illustrations. Boris and the pirates are described as being greedy. The first picture shows the young boy looking down on the pirates from the "Crow's Nest" lookout. Boris is standing next to his treasure chest with his parrot, violin case in his hand, while the rest of the pirates gather around the few gold coins Boris gave to them. As the story continues, the illustrations show the boy stealing the violin back from Boris, Boris interrupting his crew's card game to threaten them for stealing while the boy tries to find a hiding place in the hold, the pirates chasing him, Boris listening to the boy playing his violin outside the door with an enormous sword in his hand (while the parrot listens to the boy's playing), Boris bursting in, and finally the pirates listening respectfully (with knives in their hands) while the boy plays. That page says, "All pirates are scary." All of the descriptions of pirates being mean and frightening are true, but they also show their softer side by listening to and enjoying the music. This is where the tone of the story also shifts. After the concert is when Boris's parrot cries. All of the pirates are sad when the crew, Boris, and the boy put the parrot in the violin case as a coffin and give the parrot a burial at sea. Later, the boy is allowed to stand with Boris while he mourns and cries. The toughness that Boris does truly contain melts away and he shows the emotion he hides the rest of the time. The final pages of the book read, "All pirates cry," which shows the ship back in the same place they found the treasure. The crew is looking sadly at Boris, the boy, and one crew member in the rowboat, rowing the boy back to shore. The final page says, "And so do I," referring to crying, as the boy stands alone on the beach with his violin as the ship sails away.
The structure of the story, with the pictures telling a different story in the middle, allows students listening to get creative and use their imaginations. We do not see HOW the boy gets to the pirate ship, but we know he gets there. Does he want to be a pirate? Is that why he takes his neckerchief and turns it in to a head covering similar to what the pirates wear? Does he just want his violin back? Do the pirates really love the boy? They sure seem to! Students have a lot of different opinions about what is happening beyond the words, and they enjoy the book after multiple readings because they always notice different details. Just as with real humans, things aren't always what they seem with these pirates, and students enjoy peeling back the layers and connecting these traits to people they know.