Ask Aunty: Seasons (Aunty Munya Andrews, illus Charmaine Ledden-Lewis, HGE)

Seasons provide a beautiful and poetic lens through which to begin understanding a culture, and the brief cross-section that Ask Aunty invites us to peer into is brimming with knowledge and ways of seeing. Ask Aunty guides readers through the six lalin (seasons) of the Bardi people, marked not by calendar dates but by observing what is happening on booroo (country). The author is funny, loquacious and bewitching company; one couldn’t ask for a more generous teacher on one of the oldest continuous cultures in the world. The text is brimming with information yet never overwhelms. Charmaine Ledden-Lewis’s page layouts are exquisite, drawing the eye where it belongs with clever use of perspective, space and point of view; she is making some of the most vibrant and luminous pastel illustrations in children’s books today. The evocative art also smooths our transitions between the seasons on Bardi Country (the WA region known as the Dampier Peninsula), gently ferrying readers along the river of Bardi knowledge and vocabulary. Children will be left bursting with questions, a non-European perspective on seasonal time, and a deep longing to eat gaamba (pandanus nuts). Perfect for any curious (and incurious!) children aged 5–10, Ask Aunty is a sumptuous gift.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Phil Lesnie is a children’s illustrator and a bookseller at Kinokuniya Sydney. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

Category: Reviews