Miri, a character readers met earlier in ‘Landing with Wings,’ reappears in this companion story set on Djaara Country. Trace Balla consulted and gained permission to include the Dja Dja Wurrung language and culture throughout this story.
Balla’s graphic novels make a unique contribution to this ever-growing field. Her illustrations are landscape in design to give space for her intricately detailed drawings. Her stories are relatively lengthy—around 80 pages. Her illustration style is naïve and filled with multiple stories. She captures the Australian landscape in soft and warm-tone colours of sage green, terracotta and ochre which reflect the Australian bush. Balla takes advantage of the graphic novel format using speech bubbles, multiple images per page and engaging word-sound effects that imitate birds and animals. Every page is highly detailed with an invitation to readers and viewers to revisit multiple times to discover sounds, images and microscopic details. Readers experience being in and moving through Country and, in so doing, experience nature and cultural practices.
Miri is the main character in a cast of many. She builds a platform in a tree to watch over daily life below. A pivotal moment occurs when an emu egg is rescued. Everyone pitches in to protect it until the moment the baby emu hatches. Miri becomes too close to the emu although she is reminded emus are not pets and must be returned to their native family. Readers experience the humorous antics of Barramal, the emu, as it mischievously investigates its surroundings. Miri and Barramal become too attached. In a moving finale, Miri realises Barramal needs to be with his own kind.
Balla’s illustrations are hand-drawn using Apple Pencil on iPad Pro using Procreate. The text font is based on Trace Balla’s handwriting. As in other Balla books, the front and back endpapers feature the interaction of people, plants and animals in the story. In Balla’s author notes at the end, she briefly describes how the story took its own route and gives credit to the many who provided advice and guidance during the creation of this story.
Picture Books for Older Readers
