Tom Tom is a young boy around four years of age who lives at Lemonade Springs, a fictional Aboriginal community in the Top End of the Northern Territory. He has a large extended family, including two mothers, four fathers and a number of brother- and sister-cousins.
The simple story depicts Tom Tom’s busy daily life. He swims in the springs, swings on a rope over the water and goes to preschool where he paints and makes dough into damper. The book also draws attention to the importance of family, highlighting the various people who are involved in raising the young boy. Granny Annie cooks Tom Tom lunch after his swim. Uncle Harry gives him a lift to Granny May and Grandfather Joe’s house where he spends the night. Miss Jess, his teacher, drives him to school.
Little details, accessible language and warm, earthy illustrations enable readers to build a clear picture of Tom Tom’s life and how it may be similar to or different from their own. The natural setting is beautifully evoked through words and images, with references to paperbark and stringybark trees, red-tailed black cockatoos ‘ku tek’, wallaby tracks and the Lemonade Springs. Illustrator Dee Huxley plays with perspective, portraying wide-open landscapes in some illustrations and close-ups of Tom Tom in others.
‘Tom Tom’ was written by Rosemary Sullivan, a teacher who has worked in the Top End of the Northern Territory all her life. The illustrations are by well-known Australian artist Dee Huxley. ‘Tom Tom’ was an Honour Book in the CBCA Early Childhood Book of the Year Awards in 2009.
Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander Resource
