Title
Savannah Dreams
Author
Lolla Stewart
Illustrators
Elaine Russell
Publisher, Date
Little Hare Books, 2011
Audience
3-4yrs, 5-8yrs, Lower Primary
ISBN
9781921714030
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Subjects
- Bush tucker
- Counting
- Fishing
- Food
- Hunting and gathering
- Imagination
- Wild foods
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Annotation
Each day of the week Savannah’s family found food. On Sunday they went fishing in the creek. 'Her father caught five mottled rock cod. Her mother caught four stripy mangrove jacks. Her sister caught three whiskery catfish. Her brother caught two silvery long toms. And Savannah caught one …' and imagined that the one stroller wheel was the eye of a 'GREAT BIG barramundi'.
The structure is repetitive, with the family food-gathering on consecutive days in the bush, mangroves, billabong and elsewhere. Numbers feature, as father always catches five items, mother four and so one. Adjectives depict each food, and descriptions of Savannah’s finds (which eventually form a barramundi sculpture) are written in capital letters. The stylised illustrations in this picture book are bright and bold, with trees, mountains, sky and clouds shown in blocks of colour. Elaine Russell grew up near Lake Cargellico, NSW. Lolla Stewart has lived on remote Aboriginal communities in the ‘top end’.
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Teaching Resources
- Griffiths, Ellie. Australia's Native Foods. Bush Tucker https://theculturetrip.com/pacific/australia/articles/a-guide-to-bush-tucker-australias-native-foods/
- ABC TV. Behind the News. Bush Food https://www.abc.net.au/btn/classroom/bush-food/10530342
- Art Gallery of NSW. Video interview with Elaine Russell https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/artists/russell-elaine/