NOTABLE – 2018 CBCA Early Childhood Book of the Year
LONGLISTED – 2018 ABIA Small Publishers' Children's Book of the Year
SHORTLISTED – 2018 Speech Pathology Australia's Book of the Year (Birth to Three Years category)
This delightful book for early childhood will enthral young children and their older readers. The vibrant illustrations are accompanied by a soft lyrical text and together they introduce some of the diverse native and exotic animals to be found in Australian zoos. A ‘surprised lion’, ‘pacing jaguar’, ‘grinning gorilla’, ‘devoted elephant’ and a ‘queenly cassowary’ are just some of the featured zoo animals that will tug at the heartstrings in this fabulous animal parade.
First release of the ‘Young Art’ Board Book series that showcases young Indigenous artists.
Magabala Books is Australia's oldest independent Indigenous publishing house. Based in the pearling town of Broome in the far north of Western Australia, Magabala Books is one of the most remote publishing houses in the world.
Magabala Books has commissioned a number of early childhood books, and has developed the text in-house with the assistance of early-childhood literacy and educational experts.
Illustrated by Joshua Button
Joshua Button is descended from the Walmajarri people of the East Kimberley. As a young boy growing up in the far north of Western Australia, Joshua spent many weekends fishing and crabbing in the mangroves with his family. His keen interest in the saltwater country is expressed in the insightful and evocative artwork of his first picture book Joshua and the Two Crabs (Magabala Books, 2008) produced with the help of his friend and mentor Robyn Wells as part of a school literacy program.
In 2006 Joshua and Robyn began the ten-year collaborative and creative journey of Steve goes to Carnival an extraordinary and joy-filled story about a jazz-loving gorilla called Steve who lives in a zoo in Rio (Magabala Books 2016).
Joshua works part-time as an Aboriginal Teaching Assistant in Broome.
