1. Adventure stories
2. Animals
3. Art motifs
4. Cooperation
5. Friendship
6. Helpfulness
7. Humour
8. Mysteries
9. Perseverance
10. Resilience
11. Storytelling

Like the two previous books in this series of related stories, the reader follows the adventures of Australian bush animals. This time the starring trio includes Gecko, Thorny Devil and Bungarra (a large Australian monitor lizard). It’s Burngarra’s birthday week and his friends bring him a birthday gift every day, while promising something very special on his birthday.

The tale is revealed in three chapters, each title generating suspense and a hint of events to come, for example, ‘Bungarra’s Birthday Surprise’, ‘The Plan and the Plot’ and ‘The Big Rescue’. These provide an introduction to pacing a story while offering rich figurative language like ‘scamper’, ‘persuaded’, ‘sparkle’, ‘fling’ and ‘commotion’ for budding writers of mystery and adventure stories. As with the first two books in this series, there is a gentle lesson here—not to take others’ belongings and the consequences of bad behaviour.

The digitally-rendered artwork captures the landscape with its large format featuring the strong brown and green colours of the Australian bush. Backgrounds frequently include familiar Aboriginal patterns. The endpapers feature a map of the animals’ adventure, and an introductory double page spread introduces the cast of characters featured in the series.

Helen Milroy is a descendant of the Palyku people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Series: Tales from the Bush Mob no 3

1. Helen Milroy author profile, Magabala Books https://www.magabala.com/collections/helen-milroy
2. Bungarra in outback Western Australia (Note: the sound is poor, but the movement of the Bungarra is fascinating) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK6H4_3LbSY
3. ‘12 Surprising Facts about Geckos’ by Jaymi Heimbuch, 10 August 2020 https://www.treehugger.com/surprising-facts-about-geckos-4864284
4. Bush Heritage Australia. ‘Thorny Devils’ https://www.bushheritage.org.au/species/thorny-devils
5. The Conversation, ‘Photos from the field – Australia is full of lizards so I went bush to find out why’ by Kristian Bell, 2 October 2020 https://theconversation.com/photos-from-the-field-australia-is-full-of-lizards-so-i-went-bush-to-find-out-why-146020