The book is designed to teach concepts such as beside, inside and between. The written text uses direct speech from a child who moves through the illustrations to question the reader “Can you see me?” and provide an answer in first-person narrative “I‘m Inside the house.” The concept word is always in a different colour from the remainder of the font.
The illustrations play a kind of hide-and-seek with the viewer as the child moves from place to place and appears in the spot to which the written text refers. The reader will also have a strong sense of everyday life in the family which comes together to play, to shop and to toast marshmallows over a camp fire. The final double-page spreads emphasise that closeness and change from the rhyming structure to describe the best place in the world to be is with Mum.
The authors are Sue Briggs, who identifies as Aboriginal, and Bev Harvey. The illustrator Bronwyn Houston is descended from the Nyiyaparli and Yindjiparndi people of the Wana clan in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander Resource
