Title
Shake a Leg
Author
Boori Monty Pryor
Illustrators
Jan Ormerod
Publisher, Date
Allen & Unwin, 2010
Audience
5-8yrs, Lower Primary, Primary, Upper Primary
ISBN
9781741758900
Add to Favourites
-
Subjects
- Ceremonies
- Crocodiles
- Cultural diversity
- Djabugay / Tjapukai / Djabuganjdji people (Y106) (Qld SE55-01)
- Graphic novels
- Insects
- Laura / Quinkan area (Qld SE Cape York SD55-13)
- Literary devices
- Stories and motifs
-
Annotation
‘All you fellas watching, come up, join in, warrima.’ This work exuberantly celebrates the fusion of Australian cultures, combining Aboriginal dance with Italian food in a contemporary story about cultural understanding.
A ‘Murri fella’ travelled to Italy (‘the source’) to learn how to make pizza (‘sauce’) and brought the knowledge back to Far North Queensland. Three hungry boys visit his Pizzeria where he feeds them crocodile meat pizza, tells them traditional stories, and invites them to join the dance – to ‘warrima’ or ‘shake a leg’.
Cross-cultural exchange is evinced in this stunning collaboration between Boori Monty Pryor, respected storyteller, dancer and writer, and Jan Ormerod, acclaimed Australian-born picture book author/illustrator, long resident in the UK. Presented in inventive graphic novel format with witty word play, the end-papers depict the snake totem looping from Britain to Australia as a symbol of their creative partnership. Winner of the Prime Minister’s Literary Award Children’s Fiction 2011, this is an enormously original work of sophisticated artistry.
Boori Monty Pryor was born in North Queensland. His father is from the Birrigubba of the Bowen region and his mother from Yarrabah (near Cairns), a descendant of the Kungganji.
-
Teaching Resources
- Allen & Unwin Teachers’ Notes by Jan Deans & Phil Egan for ‘Shake a Leg’ https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/dimo.allenunwin.com/assets/teaching_resource/9781741758900.pdf
- ‘Teacher Resource Shake a Leg’ Reading Australia https://readingaustralia.com.au/books/shake-a-leg/
- Ozwords 'Shake-a-Leg' http://ozwords.org/?p=7337
- NITV Booroloola Community NT 'Shake--Leg' 2014 DanceSite Festival Youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmVMyN2Hq4s
- youtube video 'Shake-a-Leg demonstration https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQcjzeIXubI