Yanga Mother by Cheryl Leavy artwork by Christopher Bassi

 

It is so important to share the issues surrounding The Stolen Generation with our students. This book explores this topic using the relationship between a mother kangaroo and her joey. The way this is presented I imagine the author had very young children in mind who might simply see this as a dual language story filled with kangaroos while with older students' it is essential to share the end notes. Here are some quotes:

"Yanga Mother honours the strength and dignity of the women of Western Queensland, mardi matriarchs, and all First Nations mothers. Well into the 1970s thousands of Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their families by Australian governments. With as many as one in three of our children stolen."

This story is based on a story told by the author's grandmother - Beryl Wharton. Her mother told Beryl to look up at the clouds to know her mother was watching over her.

"Yanga Mother honours dhugandu, the grey kangaroo, as family, because like mardi peoples, they also like to stay connected in social groups called mobs."

"We can all learn something from dhugandu about family, responsibility and safety. They teach us that our connections to each other are sacred."

"The reference to the sun, sky and clouds calls us to remember Country and our sacred obligation to love and protect it, just as it has nurtured us into our very existence. Respecting Country includes respecting its people."

With young children, you might need to talk about the final pages where the mother kangaroo is depicted as a spirit or a cloud - has she died, or have they been separated?

I was sent this book by UQP (University of Queensland Press) and it came wrapped in the same paper as the end papers - it is always exciting to unwrap a parcel. I am curious about the bright white flowers with golden yellow centres on the end papers - are they desert flowers found in Queensland?  They do not appear in the book but on the final page there is a flower bud which I think must be from this same plant.  I asked the publisher about the flowers and she said: it is a native flower and represents Country. The yellow is significant as it recalls Chris Bassi’s artistic practice.

This book will be published 2nd July, 2024. I do like the way the text is expressed in very short phrases. The English and Kooma texts are presented on every page with Kooma in bold print. When you share this book with students spend some time looking at the way the title is present with Yanga in slightly larger font. Yanga means mother. Also take some time to talk about the range of emotions you can see in the eyes of the young kangaroo. Some of the illustrations are repeated with just a change to the background colour to show the passing of time. 

You can see more pages here. Here is a wonderful audio glossary so you can hear the words from this text spoken too. The teachers notes are coming soon. 

Bookseller blurb: Yanga Mother is a timely and poetic celebration of First Nations languages. This powerful bilingual story honours connection to Country and the unbreakable bonds of never-ending motherly love. Wandaguli Yanga. There is always Mother. From award-winning writer Cheryl Leavy comes this beautiful picture book in Kooma and English about a grey kangaroo and her joey, and the unbreakable bonds of family. With artwork from renowned Meriam and Yupungathi artist Christopher Bassi, this gentle yet powerful story honours the Stolen Generations, First Nations matriarchs, and never-ending motherly love.

Cheryl Leavy is from the Kooma and Nguri Nations in western and central Queensland. She is an award-winning poet and writer who loves to tell stories that celebrate First Nations culture, history and Country. Yanga Mother is her first picture book and her second, For You Country, will be published in 2025. Read more about the artist Christopher Bassi here. Christopher Bassi is an artist of Meriam, Yupungathi and British descent. Working with archetypal models of representational painting, his work engages with the medium as sociological and historical text and as a means to address issues surrounding cultural identity, alternative genealogies, and colonial legacies in Australia and the South Pacific. I am going to assume this is his first picture book. 

This large format book could be a good addition to your library when you share these companion texts: