Tiwi College Alalinguwi Jarrakarlinga students (with Shelley Ware and David Lawrence), Tiwi Seasons with Marius, Indigenous Literacy Foundation, November 2023, 16 pp., RRP $22.99 (hbk) ISBN 9781922592910
Tiwi Seasons with Marius has been created by female students from the Tiwi college Alalinguwi Jarrakarlinga with guidance from mentors from the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. The narrative has an informal, conversational tone, as we follow Marius with his visiting friend Michael and son Justin around Tiwi and through the 13 overlapping seasons of one year. Readers will learn about the weather, the food and the activities.
Tiwi words are highlighted in bold, and there is a glossary at the back. It may have been more seamless to embed the English translation in brackets within the narrative, as flipping back and forwards does disrupt the read.
The illustrations are stylized and naive, having the appearance of lino-cut printing. On some pages, the illustrations clearly reflect the text, yet on others they feel less connected and may be difficult for young readers to identify what is being represented.
There are two QR codes employed in the picture book. At the time of writing the review, the QR code to hear the story read aloud was not yet available, which was disappointing as it is important to be able to pronounce the Tiwi words correctly. The second QR code offers access to more detailed information about plants and animals for each of the Tiwi seasons.
This book would be a welcome addition to First Nation People book collections and would be best suited to primary schools and libraries.
Reviewed by Bronwyn Joseph
