Karen Manbulloo (text), and Julie Haysom, Denise Angelo, Cindy Manfong and Karen Manbulloo (illustrators), Moli bin git Stak | Molly gets stuck, Indigenous Literacy Foundation, February 2024, 24 pp., RRP $19.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781922592583
This fun, delightful book is the second in a series about the pig named Moli (Molly). Moli lives in the remote community of Kalano, just outside Katherine, about 300 kilometres south of Darwin. The story is written in Kriol, a language spoken by Indigenous people across the north of Australia. It shares some aspects with English-based Pacific Islands pidgin, so it is easily understood by English speakers, especially thanks to the parallel English text.
The story has been written by a local Binjari woman, who is now able to read books to her grandchildren in their own language for the first time. The coloured full-page-crayon-style illustrations introduce us to the sandy landscape and stilted housing of the local community, and some of the local characters as they try to help Moli out of her predicament. It’s a warm and amusing tale, made lively by the illustrations and the fun you will have sounding out this new language. To add to the experience there is a QR Code on the back cover which will give mobile phone access to a recoding of a local person reading the text in Kriol. Altogether a wonderfully engaging project.
The book has been produced by the Indigenous Literacy Fund, a national charity working with remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Australia to promote early learning and literacy. Recommended for readers from three years onwards.
Reviewed by Kevin Brophy
