Ruby Roars by Margaret Wild and Kerry Argent

Ruby is a Tasmanian Devil and she’s on a mission. She wants to be scary. The trouble is, when she opens her mouth to make frightening noises, all that comes out is, scrrr and screekle and scrunch. Poor Ruby can’t even scare Mum and Dad. When Owl, Fox and Bull make fun of her scary efforts, Ruby gets worried.

But she’s a determined little devil and sets out to achieve success. After listening to the sounds around her Ruby opens her mouth to see what noises she can make. When Mum spills the knucklebone soup and Dad drops three stitches (good to see a knitting dad!), Ruby knows her new repertoire is working. Soon there’s a cacophony of yammer-ammer-ooing and yeee-oww-eeeing all around the house.

This is a thoroughly entertaining book for toddlers through to anyone who loves onomatopoeia – perfect for reading aloud. Margaret Wild supplies a rollicking text that romps and rolls with Kerry Argent’s delightful illustrations. Together they capture mischief and tenderness, exuberance, disappointment and discovery.

With young children, this book would be a perfect springboard for exploring the senses. What sounds can you hear? What noises can you make? It would be an ideal resource for discussion about persistence or the theme Me and my Family. What can you remember trying to learn to do? Skipping? Whistling? Clicking your fingers? How do you feel when your brothers or sisters or your friends can do something that you can’t? How do you think Ruby felt when she couldn’t scare Owl and Fox and Bull?

Rumour has it there was a LOT of deliberating about getting just the right sounding words for this text. It certainly paid off!

Allen&Unwin 2007

The Dream of the Thylacine - Margaret Wild and Ron Brooks

From the moment news of another Margaret Wild–Ron Brooks collaboration was a mere whiff in the wind, you can imagine children’s book pundits pacing up and down by their bookshelves, rubbing their hands in anticipation. Well, the wait is over and no one is going to be disappointed. The Dream of the Thylacine is here – and it will leave its stamp on your emotions.

 

This book smacks of sorrow. Everything about it is hung with sadness, regret and longing. It is a lament to the Thylacine, the Tasmanian Tiger, last seen – in captivity – in the late 1930s. The Dream of the Thylacine is as confronting as it is haunting. It will stop you in your tracks. It will reach its giant hand into your safe places and secure its grip on a fistful of feelings you didn’t know you possessed. An utterance will swirl in your mind until it burns in your thoughts – if only…

 

From the very beginning of the book, the mood is one of yearning. The front cover depicts an arresting image of the Thylacine, followed by the front end paper where the outside world is seen from behind wire. Then, in sepia tones, the Thylacine is portrayed confined in its cage and the narrative in the form of a poem: Trapped am I/in cage of twisty wire, cold concrete/prowl/rage/howl …

 

The book alternates between the narrative against its sorrowful sepia backdrop, and bold double-page colour spreads of the Thylacine in its natural habitat. Throughout the book the images of the Thylacine fade, until it eventually disappears, at last becoming one with the land in the form of a rock formation on the last page.

 

As the lament concludes Rest now/Hear the stones chant/the wind console and on the last page, Dreaming am I, the spirit of this woebegone animal sours above the page.

 

The Dream of the Thylacine is a book that stays with you and calls you back, time and again. It would be suitable for middle primary school children through to adults and presents teachers with a plethora of opportunities for discussion.

 

Allen&Unwin 2011