1. Anangu people
2. Animals
3. Art motifs
4. Bilingual books
5. Children as artists
6. Children as authors
7. Counting
8. Desert
9. Dogs
10. Endpapers
11. Humour
12. Indigenous languages
13. Mysteries
14. Numbers
15. Pitjantjatjara people (C6) (NT SG52-11)
16. Visual literacy
17. Yankunytjatjara people (C4) (NT SG52-16)

This book is overflowing with dogs. There are dogs being counted and dogs that are missing. There are dogs everywhere on every page even on the colourful endpapers. They are so important that they are even all named and thanked along with their individual portraits at the end of the book.

We can see that dogs play a central role in the life of the Tjuntjuntjara community and when one goes missing its owner begins a search throughout the community getting helpful suggestions from community members.

The book is cleverly designed. Each double page spread shows, on the right a photograph of the community with overlaid illustrations of the narrator and, of course, dogs. On the left, there are illustrations of the various dogs from the right-hand page and a number counting them. This progresses throughout the book until there are twenty dogs illustrated.

At the end of the book is a poem ‘The Desert Dogs of Tjuntjuntjara’ written during the workshop which led to the creation of this book. There is also a brief explanation that the Pitjantjatjara language is essentially an oral spoken language, and the text is written as the authors saw fit.

A clever and funny book and an excellent one for sharing with young children.

1. Pan Macmillan Australia/Indigenous Literacy Foundation Teacher Guide for ‘Yaltji Ngayuku Papa?’ https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/9781923179301.pdf
2. NITV/SBS 6 September 2024. ‘Yaltji Ngayuku Papa? (Where’s My Dog?) And other tales from Indigenous Literacy Day https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/yaltji-ngayuku-papa-wheres-my-dog-and-other-tales-from-indigenous-literacy-day/qrciv22iu
3. Indigenous Literacy Foundation. Launch of ‘Yaltji Ngayuku Papa?’ at the Sydney Opera House https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnAEWn4JK4o
4. Western Australia Department of Education 5 September 2024 ‘Students living in one of Australia’s most remote communities have written and illustrated a bilingual picture book that was launched at the iconic Sydney Opera House’. https://www.education.wa.edu.au/-/paw-some-authors-share-language-and-culture
5. Western Australia Department of Education ‘Tjuntjuntjara Remote Community School (5814)’ https://www.det.wa.edu.au/schoolsonline/overview.do?schoolID=5814
6. Flywire Films. ‘The Tjuntuntjara Story’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89KB5QUR68c
7. ABC News 10 May 2025 ‘Workers eye benefits, challenges in one of Australia's most remote communities’ https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-10/tjuntjuntjara-workers-detail-life-amid-staff-shortages/105264126