Moira Court, Antarctica, Fremantle Press, November 2019, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781925815757
I just read a wonderfully pointed and funny blog post by Maggie Tokuda-Hall titled ‘Why We Keep Telling You Not To Rhyme’ – which is about how tempting it is to include rhyme in your picture book and how difficult it really is to pull off. Which is why it was such a lovely experience to read the rhymes in Moira Court’s Antarctica. They are both pleasing to the ear when read out loud and refreshingly original and well matched to their animals. Right whales really are both ‘slow-paced and big-face’ and emperor penguins are both ‘courtly’ and ‘portly.’
This non-fiction counting book will appeal to both younger and older readers. The counting pages and the simple but thoughtful paper cut-outs will engage the younger ones, while the vocabulary and the extra facts at the end will fascinate the older ones.
Teachers and parents could use this for counting practice, to inspire further investigation into the captivating environment that is Antarctica or for artistic exploration of paper cut-outs.
Reviewed by Madeleine Crofts
