Welcome to My Country was a pleasant surprise.Over the years some of the CBCA Eve Pownall shortlisted books have be worthy, but also oh so dry and/or dull.
The cover on this book is not immediately engaging, at least not for me - it looked too much like a travel guide picture. Which is why this is the last book from the CBCA Information book section for me to review.
But I'm so glad I finally picked it up.
This is the story of 8 women from Arnham Land telling us about their people - the Yolna and their land, Bawaka.
In the Introduction they tell us:
"When napaki, non-Indigenous people, come to Bawaka they see the beauty of the blue sea and the white sand, but they don't see what really makes our land beautiful. They don't see the stories, the connections, the patterns, the rhythms, the songlines. In this book we want to share the true beauty of our country with you, our readers."
What follows are 8 chapters of such stories with lovely full page colour photographs of (mostly) children living, sharing & interacting with their land and each other.
Welcome to My Country will make a wonderful addition to all school libraries to enhance their Australian studies modules, as well as diversity, community & belonging themes.
The CBCA winners will be announced tomorrow (Friday) - good luck one and all!
I haven't got to reading this one yet Brona, it does sound good. I'm very excited about the announcement tomorrow, but will be at work all day so will have to find out the winners when I get home.
ReplyDelete