Colin Buchanan and Greg Champion (text), Glen Singleton (illus.) Australians, Let Us Barbecue! Scholastic Australia, 1 Nov 2015, 24 pp., $19.99 (hbk with CD), ISBN 9781760151294
Australians, Let us Barbecue is a new brightly-coloured, fun-filled children’s picture book. It’s the collaboration of three clever Australians who have written fresh lyrics for our national anthem – Advance Australia Fair.
Musicians, Colin Buchanan and Greg Champion’s upbeat lyrics reflect a child’s view of the Australian summer while illustrator Glen Singleton’s lively cartoon-style Aussie animal characters dance, play, drive and swim across the pages.
Australians, let us barbecue
For summertime is here!
The steamy, muggy, hottest part
Of every Aussie year….
We, as readers, bounce happily from the backyard BBQ to the beach, the bush, the outback, the reef, the mountains, backyard cricket and back to the BBQ – arranged neatly in a string of rhyming verses.
A bonus CD is included with the book on which the song is performed by Colin Buchanan.
I can imagine kids singing along to the CD, reading the words, loving the pictures and delighting in the energy of the total experience.
What a terrific way to have kids engage with books and reading. I recommend this book to all kids and adults of all ages.
Reviewed by Wendy Fitzgerald
