Brilliantly illustrated, ‘Coming home to Country’ is the perfect readaloud picture book. The first line, ‘Three hills to home, lines of Country etched like wrinkles in a wise old face’, fires the imagination. At first glance the story appears to be directed at preschoolers as the illustrations are large and there are few words on each page. A closer look reveals a definite vocabulary-building going on here, for example: palette, ignite, orchestra, exhilarating, skirmish, intricate and majestic.
‘Coming home to Country’ could be used with secondary school students who are looking at texts in relation to language features – choice of vocabulary; visual features – discussion on cover and illustrations; context of the subject and the author; values portrayed in the text; and how language features, images and vocabulary can be employed to achieve a particular effect. The story has an allegorical feel and is beautifully crafted.
The creator, Bronwyn Bancroft, was born in Tenterfield, northern New South Wales. She is a descendant of the Djanbun clan of the Bundjalung nation.
Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander Resource
