Victoria Turnbull, Pandora
The Pandora of Turnbull’s picturebook is a girl-fox who lives alone amid heaps of trash. She collects and fixes broken things. When she finds an injured bird, she makes it snug in a box and nurses it back to health. As the bird grows strong, it brings Pandora sprigs of plants, which take root in the box. Though Pandora becomes depressed when the bird disappears, the plants grow. One day Pandora awakens to sunshine, greenery, and her returned bird-friend. Turnbull’s adaptation reverses the traditional negative portrayal of Pandora. Turnbull’s Pandora does not unleash lasting troubles for humans like her Hesiodic counterpart; instead, she repairs things and participates in the recuperation of her environment. Gone is the punitive edge of the myth and its scapegoating of women. Turnbull’s poetically spare words and beautiful detailed illustrations deliver a story for all ages, one in which care and friendship crucially contribute to the restoration of the world’s flourishing.