Harper Collins

October 2019

ISBN: 9781460750025

ISBN 10: 1460750020

Imprint: HarperCollins – AU

List Price: 29.99 AU

Is it a history book? Poetry? A work of art? Geographical work? Actually it’s pretty much all of these wrapped up in one stunning picture book.

The incomparable Jackie French teams up with Emeritus Professor Virginia Hooker, social historian, to take readers on a journey through history that dates back 200, 000, 000 years ago.

Richly illustrated by Mark Wilson we are treated to many fascinating aspects of our nearest neighbours with whom we are linked by ocean and monsoon. Traders, explorers, monuments, animals, landscapes, faiths and festivals, struggles and successes are all examined in double page spreads which each feature a time-line and a focus topic. Alternate pages also share some verse resonant with figurative language and lyric descriptions.

Timor-Leste, Java, Melaka, Philippines, Macassar, Bangkok and Hanoi are just some of the destinations to be explored each with the most pertinent of significant facts.

This is a book which will not only be a hugely welcome addition to classrooms (given the dearth of information pitched at student level) but thoroughly enjoyed by young readers for its sheer beauty and intriguing information.

It is sumptuous and truly a delight to the eye and mind – non-fiction has rarely looked better!

Highly recommended for readers from around 8 years upwards.

A teaching guide is available here.