Maggie Hutchings (text) and Felicita Sala (illustrator), Your Holiday was the Best!, Affirm Press, February 2024, 32pp ., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781922863683
It’s holiday time and the camping ground by the beach is full of tents in all shapes and sizes, a few caravans and lots of families ready to enjoy in the great outdoors. Some have even brought their pets with them. Everyone is intent on enjoyment – running, chasing, playing games, reading, digging ditches in the sand, swimming, surfing, chatting with neighbours and having BBQs. It was the best holiday ever.
It is also the best holiday for a friendly cockroach ready for his own beach adventure. The cockroach watches what others are doing and copies their antics. He is learning all sorts of new tricks like piling sand on people, and tasting delicious barbecued delights.
However, not everyone is welcoming of a cockroach who wants to share their holiday. Some children scream in fright when they see him; adults chase him with insect spray to get rid of him, but the cockroach feels nothing but enlivened at every experience.
Your Holiday was the Best! is the latest picture book by Hutchings which follows her other successful children’s books Your Birthday was the Best! and Your School is the Best!. Through good humour and a healthy dose of quirkiness, Hutchings encourages hope and resilience in all her books with her concise and inspiring depiction of events and places that are important in the lives of children.
The illustrations in Your Holiday was the Best! are exceptional. Felicita Sala must be congratulated for the beautiful rendering of images throughout this book. Vibrant and lively, Sala has included a range of interesting elements on every page which broadens the focus toward other possibilities. The inclusion of these ‘back stories’ encourages conversation, imaginative storytelling, and enjoyment well beyond the text.
Your Holiday was the Best! is a celebration of the great Australian tradition of a camping beach holiday which will stand the test of time. This picture book delivers a great visual experience that can be appreciated by a wide readership, it is delightfully funny to read out loud, and early readers will be pleased with their cleverness at reading all the words. And cockroaches are indeed a part of life.
Reviewed by Jennifer Mors
