1. Culture
2. Families
3. Fear
4. Home
5. Moving house
6. Shadows

In this gentle junior fiction tale, Lilli has to move house from the country to the city. She’s especially sad about leaving her Nan and her special mango tree. When her uncle paints her a picture of the mango tree to take with her, there's a pair of green eyes shining amidst its leaves. This is Lilli’s shadow spirit-creature, a ‘dingo cat’ sent by her Nan to make Lilli’s transition into her new life easier. But, once Lilli has settled in, Shadow is needed back home when her Nan gets sick. It is Lilli who creates the sacred smoke to send Shadow on her way.

A mix of family story about moving house and the power of Indigenous cultural belief, 'Lilli and Her Shadow' is a part of the Waarda Series for Young Readers, edited by Sally Morgan. Pat and Laura Dudgeon are both descended from the Beniol Bardi people from north of Broome.

Series: Waarda Series for Young Readers, no 4

1. Fremantle Press Teaching Notes 'Lilli and Her Shadow' https://www.fremantlepress.com.au/system/spree/files/attachments/000/000/308/original/Lilli_and_her_shadow_Teaching_Notes_WEB.pdf?1424319350
2. youtube 'Lilli and her Shadow' book trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33PDBRCcO3g
3. ‘Difficult time inspires young writer’ by Varnya Browmlow, The West Australian, 23 March 2010 https://thewest.com.au/entertainment/art/difficult-time-inspires-young-writer-ng-ya-217992.amp