Andrea Rowe (text) and Hannah Sommerville (illustrator), Amid the Sand Dunes, Little Hare, October 2024, 24 pp., RRP $19.99 (Board), ISBN 9781761213786
Following their 2022 success with award winning Jetty Jumping, author, Rowe, and illustrator, Sommerville, have now created another outstanding picture book which is well deserving of its recognition as a CBCA 2025 Early Childhood Notable.
Amid the Sand Dunes captures the joy, adventure and carefree abandon of exploring rolling coastal sand dunes.
With just a few words per page, clear and distinct illustrations, and a sturdy board book format, it is well suited for babies to 3-year-olds.
Rowe’s text is a beautifully crafted rhyme. The short rhyming phrases and skilful use of alliteration are quite poetic. Its lyrical flow makes it an enjoyable listening experience for little ones, even if some vocabulary is unfamiliar for them. Carefully chosen onomatopoeia and vivid descriptors evoke a sensory experience—capturing sounds, movement, touch, and sights.
In soft colours from nature, Sommerville depicts busy preschoolers as they rollick and explore an idyllic Australian sand dunes scene of coastal native plants, birds and wildlife. In each illustration there are delightful details – birds, insects, flowers and creatures – which also offer vocabulary-building opportunities, as toddlers can engage by naming the creatures and objects they find. Best of all is the vivid sense of energy, activity, and pleasure portrayed in the children’s movements.
I highly recommend this book for babies to 3-year-olds.
Reviewed by Barbara Swartz
