Magabala Books

April 2016

ISBN:9781925360158

RRP $17.95

As our summer merges into autumn with no abate to the warm weather seemingly, this will be a great read aloud for your smaller humans especially those who live near the water. Paul Seden’s picture book is chockfull of colour and activity as a family goes up the creek to try some crabbing.

With both Indigenous and non-Indigenous characters this is a truly inclusive story for children to celebrate this quintessentially Australian pastime of water recreation. Paul is Darwin-based and descended from the Wuthathi and Muralag people of North Queensland. His first successful foray into picture books, writing and illustrating, is based on his own experiences spending time with his family having adventures and fishing the creeks around Darwin.

One particularly enjoyable feature is the use of creative font to emphasise the onomatopoeia used throughout story which could easily take this book into a teachable moment. The story also lends itself well to writing and sharing children’s own recounts of their own family recreational adventures.

Two double-page spreads stand out for me. The first: a split view of Dad and the kids in the tinny and the variety of creatures under the surface of the creek – it is just gorgeous and so evocative of similar locations. The second: a highly annoyed captured crab – readers will love shouting out the ‘big angry crab’ text!

This really is a must have for your picture book collection and I highly recommend it for readers from Prep up to around Year 3/4.