The Walkabout of Sailor Jim
Author: Judith Lloyd Klauba
Illustrator: George Klauba
It's 1944 and somewhere off the Solomon Islands an American destroyer is under attack by Japanese torpedo bombers. Jim, a young gunner’s mate, is blown overboard and drowns. A journey begins with the spirit of Jim rising and gliding over the sea, trying to make sense of what and where he is. He descends upon Australia and encounters Yundar, an aborigine boy on his walkabout. A tattoo on Jim’s chest sets in motion both a quest and a search to return home to his fiancé Alice. Together with Yundar they face leagues of scorpions, skin-shredding winds and a witch doctor whose evil they must overcome. When Alice appears to Jim, an understanding is reached with the “Great Rainbow Serpent”, the river of life, death and beyond.