Jordan Collins (author) and Myo Yim (illustrator), Dorothy, Penguin Random House Australia, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781761044243
Myo Yim’s whimsical, soft pencil illustrations beautifully support and extend Jordan Collins’s narrative which explores the notion of a journey in search of self or ‘home’; in this telling it is the ‘place’ where the young protagonist feels truly comfortable. Drawing from the story of the Wizard of Oz, Collins’s Dorothy also clicks her ruby red shoes three times to magically find her way back home, despite numerous challenges along the way, to a safe place; a place where she can be at home with who she feels she is.
Although the author’s use of repetition and poetic language gives the narrative a certain fluency and predictability, their amorphous reframing of the notion of ‘home’ may be a little confusing for the very young.
Suitable for ages 5+
Reviewed by Mem Capp
