A Tiny Light (Alison Lester, UQP)
It’s always a delight when Alison Lester, one of Australia’s most well loved picture-book creators, releases a new story. A Tiny Light is her latest offering, a charming narrative in rhyming verse that makes for the perfect bedtime tale. Lester is a national treasure, and this new picture book adds to her impressive catalogue of cherished and imaginative stories for young readers. Set in an old Queenslander house, this is a quintessentially Australian picture book, complete with starry skies and lush garden colours, and ending with kookaburras that greet the day. Tiny fairies called Twinkles visit the young dreamers from the milky way, giving children a chance to envision friendly creatures that ‘chase away the dark and gloom’ and point out shapes in the dark night sky. This enchanting idea was first conceived by Lester’s mother-in-law and made into a handmade book in the 1920s. Lester brings it to life in this brightly hued version with her signature art style, offering those who read it a sense of wonder and a comforting hug before sleep. Perfect to read aloud, A Tiny Light would make anyone’s bedtime more captivating and, like the Twinkles themselves, this book is sure to ‘bless you with the sweetest dreams’.
Karys McEwen is the library manager at Prahran High School, a middle-grade author, and the vice president of CBCA VIC Branch
