An eel, a frog and a turtle are friends who live in a duck pond. The eel has grown too big for the pond and his two friends hatch a plan to move him to a bigger watery home, a creek, where they can all continue to live together. The journey is long and difficult, but with support and urging from native birds, they successfully arrive at their new home. They settle in and make new friends. The author ends the story by sharing that the journey of the three friends became a legend, being told, and retold to new generations.
The final page has a heading ‘We can be friends even though we are different’ accompanied by an illustration of the three friends. This page also has brief information about the author’s life, and we learn that she was a natural storyteller, with each spoken story ending with ‘The moral of the story is…. ‘. She also assures her audience that her written children’s stories evolved from telling them around a campfire, and that they are not from the Dreaming.
This story is told in simple, accessible language suitable for young children. Large, clear white font is presented on a different coloured background for each double page spread, with full page illustrations opposite. The settings are identifiable for young children and the birds would be familiar to most children as a talking point. This title is her third illustrated story for young children.
Dr Ruth Hegarty is a child of the Gunggari Nation and the Stolen Generations. She grew up in an institution known as the Girls Dormitory at the Cherbourg Aboriginal Settlement in Queensland. Her storytelling skills made her extremely popular.
Sandi Harrold is a non-Indigenous artist who was born and raised in the Queensland bush.