Review Blog

Oct 05 2012

Bushland lullaby by Sally Odgers

Ill. by Lisa Stewart. Scholastic, 2012. ISBN 174283177X.
(Ages 1+) Picture book. Bedtime reading. A gentle story told in rhyming lines within stanzas, this book is presented to be read by a parent or sibling at bed time, easing the younger child into sleep. Each page gives us four poetic lines telling of an Australian animal settling down to sleep with its parents. In gentle balladic stanzas, the story is told of the animals and their night time snuggling to rest after a busy day. Children will love to hear of these animals, warm in the knowledge that they too are about to go to bed to sleep, comforted by their parent's closeness. The gentle rhymes are easy to emulate, encouraging the listener to predict the word that comes next, possibly offering alternatives to the one given on the page. The descriptions offered too, underscore the environment and habitat. The illustrations, using Japanese paper collage techniques are soft and gentle, paralleling the story being told. They are more useful for a one to one reading, as they tend to fade on viewing from a distance, becoming indistinct.
Fran Knight