L. M. Wilkinson (text) and Lavanya Naidu (illustrator), Bravepaw and the Heartstone of Alluria Allen & Unwin, September 2024, 192 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781761180552
This is a quest novel with a difference. In it, the hero who must undertake the quest to save her community is a female mouse. Titch is the smallest mouse living on the Plateau but, despite her size, she longs to be brave and to become a hero. She practices with a wooden sword, jousting with pretend enemies. When her mother wants her to undertake the household chores she has been assigned, her mother also reminds her that there are other ways to be brave
However, her opportunity to be brave in a number of ways arrives when the Plateau is invaded by curseworms, mysterious creatures that suck colour from living creatures and turn them into grey replicas of their former selves and whose personality becomes aggressive and dangerous. . A hare that arrived just ahead of the curseworms has been on its way to deliver the mythical heartstone to the centre of Alluria but is injured in its encounter with the worms. Titch accidentally uses the heartstone staff, a feat only possible by the legendary Braveheart. Could she possibly be a new Braveheart? How can she possibly live up to the heroism of old?
Titch manages to lure the curseworms away from the plateau at great risk to herself although she is helped by her best friend, Huckleberry. When they land below the plateau in the dark wood, they encounter another band of dangerous creatures called Grabbers. These are a motley crew of rabbits, lizards, moles and others. Even more frightening is the fact that the Grabbers have captured a huge creature called an eaglebear and Titch is put in a cage next to it. Huckelberry’s ingenuity and the help of a small creature called a puffling that Titch has with her, they rescue Titch and free the eaglebear which becomes their friend.
But when the eaglebear offers to take the two mice home Titch realizes that she can’t accept. Her role is to deliver the heartstone to help heal Alluria. This sets up the scenario for another book.
The book is illustrated extensively in black and white and the text varies from time to time with words in bold or capitals and even in italics. All of these devices make the book visually appealing for a young reader. The book lends itself both being a read-aloud as well as to a young primary-school reader reading it for themselves.
Teaching notes are available at the publisher’s website.
Reviewed by Margot Hillel
