MATTHEWS, Tina So Many Wonderfuls Walker, 2014 unpaged $24.95 ISBN 9781922077516 SCIS 1671878
Tina Matthews takes readers on an exploration of a wonderful town, enumerating in great detail all the large and small things which make this small sea-side settlement so wonderfully liveable. The text is set out in verse on the left-hand page, with closely detailed illustrations on the facing page in this well-designed and constructed book. However, this reader found the verse rhythm a little confusing until realising that each verse consists of four couplets spread over two pages, so that the page must be turned before the internal rhymes make sense. With soft colours highlighting certain destinations and with many minute details to explore, the illustrations are much more engaging that the slightly laboured text. The inhabitants can be followed around the streets during each busy day, from shops to beach, to school, or to the community hall and the park. Eagle-eyed readers can search for the little pink pig or the person in the wheelchair, for the dog riding on the skateboard or a whole range of other character vignettes. End papers capture the little town enclosed between hills and the sea in daylight or evening colours.
reviewed by Chlöe Mauger