REVIEWED BY MATILDA, 11, WA
Magic Fish Dreaming by June Perkins,
ill. Helene Magisson, Gumbootspearlz Press, ISBN 9780980731187
Matilda received a review copy of this book from the publisher.
This book has poems mostly based around nature and families in the environment in Queensland. My favourite poem in the collection is called ‘Rain song,’ about the rain moving across the land and affecting banana towns, cassowaries, and fields of sugar cane. I liked the sense of movement.
The illustrations are floaty and dreamy (not bright and shabam!) and they suit the style of the poems. I really like the illustration for the poem ‘Tawny’ — you can almost feel the fluffiness of the bird.
The book is divided into two sections — ‘Hunting for Giggle Poems’, and ‘Magic Fish Dreaming’. I didn’t think that the poems’ themes in each of these sections really matched their section titles and so I thought it would have been more effective just to have the poems all in together, without dividing the book into sections.
This is a poetry book with a really Australian feel to it. I would recommend these poems to children ages 7 to 10.
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