Meg McKinlay (text) & Leila Rudge (illustrator), Always never always, Walker Books Australia, October 2023, 32 pp., RRP $25.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781760655204
In life there’s things you mustn’t do and things you must so here’s a few…
Always never always is a rhyming book of advice to young readers and a little girl setting off on an adventure with her friend, a wind-up duck, at her side. Meg McKinlay and Leila Rudge suggest that readers should always take useful things, like a torch and fairy-wings, on their journey, and never go so fast that you miss interesting and important things along the way.
While I would be a little concerned about some of the advice in this book and how it could be acted on under some circumstances, it’s not a prescriptive text by any means. It would make a lovely book to share with cuddles, and maybe a conversation with the young reader about being open to an awareness of the world around them, and a sense of adventure and how to balance that with care. What advice for life would the adult reader, or their young one, give?
The illustrations are full of bright and gentle colours, and quirky little touches like the wind-up birds that turn up on every page. There is a softness to this book that should appeal to young readers from 4 to 6 looking for a bit of comfort and gentle encouragement going out into the world.
Reviewed by Emily Clarke
