1. Alphabet
2. Dictionaries
3. English language
4. Languages

‘Possum and Wattle’ is a visual dictionary of Australian words. It is published as a large nonfiction picture book with a glossary, and features illustrations of words beginning with each letter of the alphabet as fauna and flora (as indicated by the title – ‘possum’ and ‘wattle’) as well as other elements including ‘zigzag’.

Page composition is exemplary. Multiple entries on the page are separated by borders in the dot-patterned style and glowing colours of the illustrated objects. These pictures are two-dimensional. Numerous full-page spreads showcase singular items such as ‘rainbow’ and ‘river’ or depict a visual narrative showing relationships between subjects such as ‘ants’ climbing an ‘ant hill’, ‘bees’ near ‘blossoms’, ‘gumnuts’ under ‘gum trees’ and ‘home’ and ‘hill’. Many of these pages have a three-dimensional perspective. Many of the illustrations, including ‘flames’ and ‘net’, are stylised.

Bronwyn Bancroft is a Bundjalung woman whose exceptional art is also exhibited internationally.

1. YouTube Storytime: Possum and Wattle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=musH-NtlM6c
2. Bronwyn Bancroft website https://www.bronwynbancroft.com/
3. ABC Education interview: Draw with Bronwyn Bancroft https://education.abc.net.au/home#!/media/1912990/draw-with-bronwyn-bancroft
4. Dot paintings with children (ECW: The Australian Education and Care Workforce Professional Body) https://www.aecwpb.com/2018/07/09/dot-paintings-with-children/
5. Possum and Wattle: My Big Book of Australian Words' Review in Kirkus Reviews, 1 February 2010 https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/bronwyn-bancroft/possum-and-wattle/
6. 'Bronwyn Bancroft: Illustrator - Australia' by Katarina Svenning in Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature, Johns Hopkins University Press, vol 54, no 2, 2016 https://muse.jhu.edu/article/612256/pdf