VPLAs People’s Choice AwardVote Now

VPLAs People’s Choice AwardVote Now

Three Dresses

Title: Three Dresses
Author: Wanda Gibson
Publisher: University of Queensland Press

Shortlist: Children's Literature

'Take three dresses ... one to wash, one to wear and one spare.'

When Wanda Gibson was a little girl, her mum would tell her this as they packed to go on holidays. Wanda grew up on Hope Vale Mission in Far North Queensland, and her family were allowed only one short break away from work each year. At their special spot at the beach, they camped in the sandhills, cooked fresh fish on the fire and swam in the ocean.

Beautifully illustrated with Wanda’s paintings, this heart-warming true story celebrates family time, connection to place and finding joy in the simple things, like your favourite three dresses.

Judges’ report

Three Dresses is a real-life history, a truth-telling, woven with words. Wanda Gibson invites the reader to join a little girl and her family (from the Stolen Generation) on a two-week holiday. Away from the Mission, the family feels 'so happy', and the little girl celebrates the gift of three dresses – 'one to wash, one to wear and one spare'. Each turned page of this picture book gifts the reader a visual feast of illustrations paired with words possessing a distinctive and steady pulse that mirrors the tides of the beach. Three Dresses shares a family’s relationship with place and gives the reader the sense that the word family is a verb meaning to experience freedom with glee.

Extract

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About the Author

Photo by Hope Vale Art Centre

Wanda Gibson

VPLA book photography by Sarah Walker

The 2025 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards are proudly supported by the Victorian Government through the Community Support Fund and Creative Victoria.