NORFOLK, Tania (text) Chris Norfolk (illus.) Grasshopper’s Week Craig Potton Pub, 2014 unpaged NZ$19.99 pbk ISBN 9781927213063 SCIS 1672013, NZ$29.99 hdbk ISBN 9781927213070 SCIS 1670896
One morning (and other subsequent mornings) Grasshopper asks Tree what day it is. Tree thinks for a long time and states, not the usual Monday, Tuesday… but rather an event that signifies nature in all its diversity: Wild-wind-day for Monday, Bug day for Tuesday etc. On each day, what Tree states seems to happen in unique and special ways. Behind the predictable narrative structure is the unpredictable perspective that Tree brings, on what signifies a day. Each one is evocative of different aspects of nature such that together with the poetic imagery created by the illustrator, the ‘story’ is in fact a poem to Nature. Beautifully done, the book is romantic rather than scientific, reminding us that nature can be viewed from a variety of perspectives. It invites children to consider how animals and plants may see the world. Recommended.
reviewed by John McKenzie
