Adam Goodes has come a long way since his retirement from AFL, 10 years ago this month and so has the literature about our First Nations peoples that we, and particularly out young people, have access to. What was once pretty much limited to "Tales from the Dreamtime" without acknowledgement of the vast diversity of distinct nations, language groups, and communities with each having their own unique culture, beliefs, and relationship to specific ancestral lands, the stories were seen as being universal and applicable to all. Yet, in reality the overarching commonality is connection to Country, whatever that looks like for each community.
Here, in this latest and final addition to this series which began with Somebody's Land in 2021 and now includes Ceremony (2022) , Back on Country, (2022) and Walk with Us (2023) that has opened the eyes and minds of children and adults alike, the authors attempt to help young readers better understand the concept of Dreaming.
We acknowledge that the Dreaming means different things to different people...and that Dreaming is not a traditional word used by Aboriginal people. However it is the word commonly used to try to explain the interconnectedness, complexity and richness of the Creation stories and spirituality of Aboriginal culture.
Goodes draws on his own Adnyamathanha and Narungga heritage to explain his Muda - the never-ending cycle that links the past, present and future of his People. Through lyrical text and the magical illustration that show a young child leaving their bed and flying through the window, young children begin to understand that Muda is not a specific time or place but something that transcends them, with the stories and lore and rules reaching as far back in time as they will reach in the future. But as well as offering that visual image, Hardy's interpretation of the legendary Rainbow Serpent (Akurra) and clever juxtaposition of colour to depict the Law men coming down from the sky to teach about Country are memorable.
With both the national curriculum and the new NSW HSIE syllabus having a strong focus on the the connections people make to their past and First Nations People in particular, this book -indeed, the entire series- is an essential part of the school library collection to not only engage and connect with young readers but also to help teachers sharing the curriculum so that everyone can appreciate and value that our First Nations culture is so much more than stories about why the crow is black or how the kangaroo got its tale. Hooray! At last! .
This review can also be found here.
24 pages 9781761065095 Ages 5-9
Keywords: First Nations people, Indigenous people, spirituality, heritage, Aboriginal culture, multicultural, Creation story, Social Studies Curriculum, 5 year old, 6 year old, 7 year old, 8 year old, 9 year old
Also in this series: Ceremony; Walk With Us; Back On Country
Recommended by: Barbara Braxton, Teacher Librarian, New South Wales AUSTRALIA
See more of her recommendations:
500 Hats http://500hats.edublogs.org/
The Bottom Shelf http://thebottomshelf.edublogs.org/
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This warm and accessible title in the bestselling and award-winning Welcome to Our Country series invites children to feel the vastness of the Dreaming and its central place in the spirituality and lives of First Nations people. From Australian of the Year Adam Goodes, former journalist Ellie Laing and Barkindji illustrator David Hardy.
In my dreaming at night, I see pictures behind my eyes that take me far away. Way way back in the beginning, Akurras slithered, carving rivers, in a Creation story from my Dreaming, my Muda. Law men came down from the sky to teach us about our Country. In my Muda, the Ancestors are never far, and I can see how I fit and who I am.
Told in a child's voice, Dreaming is a joyful and thought-provoking story in the bestselling and award-winning Welcome to Our Country series, and follows one young girl as she imagines what it might be like to be part of the Dreaming, past and present.---from the publisher
