Going Fishing with Nana by Frances and Lindsay Haji-ali illustrated by Karen Briggs

 

"As the sun rises on brand new day.

It's time to pick up Nana. We're going fishing today."

Publisher blurb: This ... children’s picture book takes readers on an exciting fishing trip with Nana in the far north of Australia. Through repetition and rhyme, readers are introduced to early education concepts such as ordinal numbers, counting by twos, and adjectives, all while seeing many cute and cheeky outback animals along the way.

Thanks to Magabala Books for sending a review copy.

Things I like about this book:

• Map end papers - this really is a mud map because for much of this journey across remote areas of Western Australia I am sure there would be no paved roads - but you could also talk to your students about the real meaning of the term mud map
• You could use the map on the end papers to compare the way we draw maps and also to locate this area on a larger map of Australia
• After talking about the map grab your copy of Are We There yet by Alison Lester or Dirt by Sea by Michael Wagner.
• I'm curious about the dedication to the children of Roper River and Manyallaluk School (perhaps the author worked there)
• Taking this book further than counting one to ten but also including the idea of doubling number gives this book scope for discussion and innovating on the text
• The inclusion of less well-known Australian birds such as jabirus and pink galahs
• It would be good to share this book with a preschool group as a way to practice counting and also introduce doubles

Things I wish the publisher had done differently:

• This book has less visual appeal because with the use of digital illustrations - although the notes say they are created "using acrylic paint on canvas paper" so perhaps it is the high gloss paper that gives the illustrations a digital feel
• I am not a fan of cartoon-style faces and eyes (especially on the frog, snake and children)

If your young reading companion is keen on fishing here are a few other titles to explore. 

Here is the companion book:

Frances Haji-Ali is an educator. She has worked in Catholic schools across the Kimberley and is currently a school principal in Perth. Frances is a non-Indigenous collaborator.

Lindsay Haji-Ali is a descendant of the Yawuru/Karajarri people of the West Kimberley region of Western Australia. He is an accomplished artist and his designs and artworks are held in private and corporate collections.

Karen Briggs is an illustrator, graphic and digital designer, and contemporary First Nations artist. She is a Yorta Yorta woman whose ancestral homeland radiates from the junction of the Goulburn and Murray Rivers in Northeast Victoria. Karen illustrates from her home in the Adelaide Hills and runs her own freelance design business. Her first book was Kick with my Left Foot written by Paul Seden, was published by Allen and Unwin in 2014, and shortlisted for the CBCA Crichton Award in 2015. Long-Listed, CBCA Book of the Year, Early Childhood, 2015. Short-Listed, Speech Pathology Book of The Year Awards - Indigenous Children, 2015.