Going fishing with Nana by Lindsay Haji-Ali & Frances Haji-Ali. Illlus. by Karen Briggs

Today is the day when the narrator is set to go to the beach and fish with Nana. The map on the endpapers gives readers an impression of where the story takes place. We see the names from Broome to Wyndham, driving past the Kimberley, along the highway between Perth and Darwin. Readers will have a good idea of where the child and her Nana  live, having heard of several of these major towns and states.

When she wakes, the car is packed with the rods and bait, and some snacks to eat along the way. The rhyming lines encourage younger readers to predict the word set to rhyme at the end of the second line. And a series of numbers gives the readers an introduction to using numbers and the multiples. So we have one dog staring at the child with his two eyes. They will see two slimy frogs with four shining eyes, three jabirus and their six eyes, and so on. Multiples are used throughout the story building up to the ten friends (twenty eyes) meeting the girl and her Nana at the last page.

Bright full page illustrations are clear and full of colour. Each double page highlights another section of their journey, starting with the boab trees, then on to the frogs, jabirus and green tree snakes, crocodiles, kangaroos, dragonflies, ants, and then galahs. Each of the animals is large, giving the readers a wonderful closeup view rather than something that is part of the background.

The text uses descriptive words to support the illustration: so we have grateful jabirus, slithering snakes, cunning crocodiles  and noisy galahs amongst others. Readers will learn that these words can make a difference to how we see the animal, and suggest other adjectives which could be used.

Themes: Aboriginal themes, Journey, Grandparents, Western Australia, Broome, Wyndham, Family.

Fran Knight