Tashi by Anna Fienberg and Barbara Fienberg

Ah Tashi! What a beautiful 30th anniversary hardback edition of our beloved Australian best-seller has been published by Allen and Unwin.  The Tashi series was written by a team consisting of Anna Fienberg, her "marvellous partner" Kim Gamble and her mother Barbara Fienberg. This thirtieth anniversary edition contains a dedication in memory of Kim (1952-2016) and Barbara (1930-2022) and a letter to the reader from Anna Fienberg explaining how Tashi was created through the collaboration of the three creators and how he inhabits a world  of imagination.

Tashi really needs no introduction to Australian children. School and local libraries house well-
thumbed Tashi books; each small enough to be read in one sitting before bed-time or during a classroom break. Stories of Tashi's daring adventures, usually beginning with something like..." Well, it was like this.." Tashi is a small elf? goblin?...a delightful and bold little character.

Tashi enters the life of Jack who is a little boy with a big imagination who lives with his  loving parents. He may be an imaginary friend. Jack's parents enter actively and good humouredly into the adventures and the imaginative world of Tashi. This book being the first book of Tashi's adventures gives the reader Tashi's backstory: his escape from a war lord in a far away place and his flight to Jack's country (Australia) on the back of a swan. Tashi, in this book, tells Jack how he tricked (with great bravery) the last dragon of all with a very clever ruse. There are two bonus short stories included with the original plus the out-of-print Tashi and the wicked magician.

Included in this anniversary addition are sketches from Kim Gamble's sketchbooks that have never been published before. Sadly, he was too ill to finish illustrating Tashi and the wicked magician but seven rough unfinished pencil drawings are included in this anniversary addition.  As Anna Fienberg states, Kim Gamble brings "...luminous magic" to the stories. The whimsical, soft pencil sketches are a perfect match to these whimsical stories.The map on the inside front cover of Tashi's village and surrounds reveals a wonderful, fantastic world sketched from the imagination. Tashi's world, unlike Jack's Australian world is one of castles (Bluebeard's, giant's and the warlord's) the haunted house, the Baron's house, the seaport, cemetery, the temple, fields and mountains, the royal tomb and the emperor's palace - all sites for his various adventures.

There is a lovely play of language in Tashi - an obvious delight in the play of words. This makes reading aloud particularly wonderful. There are layers of meaning and nuance too that can be enjoyed differently by different age groups. This delight in words is evidenced in the names of the cast of characters: Tiki Pu, Long Awaited, General Zeng, Lotus Blossom, Chintu the giant,Wise-as-an-Owl, Much-to Learn, Luk Ahead, Aunty Fullpot and et al.

The gentle, fanciful and playful tone of Tashi is reminiscent of Finnish author Tove Jansson's The Moomins series.

Tashi is an Australian children's classic and deserves a place on every child's bookshelf. Tashi's adventures are a wonderful series of stories crying out to be read at bedtime in episodic form. Every child need to read about little characters being brave and resourceful, acting with integrity and often on behalf of others when faced with danger. The experience allows children to wonder for themselves how they would react given similar difficult situations.

The series is suitable for newly independent readers and also for younger children as read alouds.

Themes: Magical realism, courage, adventure, friendship, loyalty, brains over brawn, fantasy.

Wendy Jeffrey