POULOS, Nina (text) Cheryl Westenberg (illus.) Night Monsters NLA Pub, 2013 unpaged $17.99 pbk ISBN 9780642278333
It is good to see rhythm and rhyme surviving in children’s books. This book is full of colour illustrations of Australian fauna. We are introduced to the kookaburra, magpie, parrot, kangaroo, echidna, platypus, wombat, dingo and many others as the question is posed: are there night monsters? And if there aren’t ghosts and dragons and bears out there, where do all those night noises come from? I will leave you to discover the answer to this very interesting question.
At the end of the book there are some well researched pages on the history and meaning of the solution that will be revealed to you when you rollick your way through the rhymes and the sometimes chaotic-seeming illustrations. Highly recommended for children who love rhyme, and love to know about Australian animal life. 4 to 8 year olds. KB
