Derek by Anne Donaldson & Matt Shanks

Derek is Anne Donaldson's first picture book and it's a testament to its quality that it contains illustrations by Matt Shanks (Koala Bare, Rosie the Rhinocerous). The wonderfully sparse illustrations are full of extra inferential information and make brilliant use of perspective and proportion. The front cover foreshadows Derek as a curious, wide-eyed fish in a big world. Observant endpaper readers know from the beginning of the story where Derek is (a pet fish shop) but it is never explicitly said. 

Derek is a curious fish; among other things he wants to know why the (his) universe is round and why the (his) earth is pink. Children will enjoy realising that our questions about the world are often limited by the world that is immediately visible to us. The big creatures that Derek sees 'when food rains down' are shown just as a giant hand (as would be seen by Derek) and poor Derek is desperate to know why he is all alone. Adventurous Derek decides to make contact with the big creatures above but try as he might they are never that interested in him. There's a great little goldfish joke here as it is noted 'they must have very short attention spans'. Children will especially love how Derek tries to get their attention by doing the longest poop he could. Eventually giving up on the big creatures, Derek turns to his own sense of independence and works out a plan to see what else is out beyond his world. He ends up finding someone to share all the big questions with. 

This is a lovely story with good inferrencing opportunities and discussions about questioning, curiosity and inquiry.

Themes: Questioning, Curiosity, Belonging.

Nicole Nelson