Jane Taylor (text), Mandy Foot (illus), Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, Lothian Children’s Books/Hachette, 22 March 2016, 32pp., $24.99 (hbk) ISBN 9780734416872
“Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are…” You know the words. We all grew up with them and sing them to our own children. Did you know though, there are many more verses? So if your baby/toddler/child really doesn’t want to go to sleep, you can learn the rest so you don’t have to sing the same words over and over. Yay!
A gorgeous new picture book combines the original poem written by Jane Taylor in England more than 200 years ago, with sweet illustrations by Adelaide’s Mandy Foot. Foot is a self-proclaimed animal nut and has illustrated a swag of Australiana-style children’s books, so her pictures in this perfect-for-bedtime book are realistic, yet gentle and endearing.
A baby pygmy possum in the Australian bush looks to the stars at night, with wonder in its glossy eyes. It travels through the book alongside two fireflies as it meets a lizard, dingo, wombat, echidna and more. There’s only one sentence for each double-page spread, so it’s a quick read, and it ends, as all bedtime stories should, with the possum snuggled up in bed asleep.
Reviewed by Carissa Mason
