1. Animals
2. Birds
3. Community
4. Country
5. Cultural diversity

‘Landing with Wings’ is an unforgettable story of inclusion, tolerance, respect for land, culture and shared knowledge. Trace Balla holds a unique place in graphic novel storytelling style and techniques. These are the perfect medium for this story set on Dja Dja Wurrung Country. Endpapers offer the ideal introduction with an array of miniature drawings, all labelled for curious readers.

Young Miri shares her personal story of moving with her Mum to the Goldfields. She experiences some trepidation because moving means everything new—home, friends and school. Soon Miri’s curiosity prods her to explore her new environment. The detailed multi-frames across the landscape book format offer fascinating and detailed information about animals, plants, birds and the environment. These invite the reader to linger, discover and share fascinating information.

Miri is intensely curious, observing and labelling everything in her new surroundings. Along the way she meets friendly and culturally diverse neighbours and other children and is increasingly comfortable with her new environment. She begins a journal, drawing and labelling what she sees and researching anything unfamiliar at her local library.

Appealing features include child-friendly jokes, sounds made by different creatures, and children’s conversations about what they are observing. Days, months and the environment change. Cultures come together, share different perspectives and bond as a community. The satisfying conclusion features the children trekking up the mountain, passing labelled landmarks along the way then experiencing a Welcome to Country. The author's note explains that she received guidance for the Aboriginal cultural content throughout the story.

For readers who enjoy Balla’s storytelling style, these also appear in 'Rivertime' (Winner: Readings Prize and Wilderness Society Environment Award, 2015) and 'Rockhopping'' (Winner: Children’s Book Council of Australia Younger Readers Awards, 2017).

1. Allen & Unwin Teachers’ Tips for ‘Landing with Wings’ https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/dimo.allenunwin.com/assets/teaching_resource/9781760296957.pdf
2. SATE. Review of ‘Landing with Wings’ https://www.aate.org.au/saeta-content/picture-books-fiction/landing-with-wings
3. Books+Publishing. Phil Lesnie reviews ‘Landing with Wings’, 6 Feb 2020 https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2020/02/06/145339/landing-with-wings-trace-balla-au/
4. Trace Balla author/illustrator on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TraceBalla
5. Trace Balla animation includes further links to her website, activities, sketches and more http://traceballa.yolasite.com/animation.php
6. Readings. Q&A ‘Getting to know our shortlisted authors: Trace Balla’, 11 May 2015 https://www.readings.com.au/news/getting-to-know-our-shortlisted-authors-trace-balla
7. ABC Gardening Australia - 'My Garden Path- Trace Balla’ https://www.abc.net.au/gardening/factsheets/my-garden-path---trace-balla/12771928