(Margaret Wild & Kerry Argent, A&U, $24.95 hb, ISBN 9781741146134, November) ****

According to Kerry Argent, Tasmanian Devils are a much misunderstood animal—all noise and no action, apparently!—and therefore lend themselves beautifully to this delightful story of one particular little Devil, Ruby. Just old enough to begin discovering her own voice, Ruby loves practising really scary noises. When none of them seem to have the desired effect of scaring her doting parents, she sets off to try her talents on some neighbourhood animals, but again, without success. Somewhat disheartened, but determined nevertheless, she returns home to combine the element of surprise with a medley of her favourite, most scary, noises, as she creeps up on her unsuspecting parents. Of course, this produces the perfect response and at the end of the day, Ruby can at last feel a sense of achievement. Needless to say, Margaret Wild has written an assortment of Tasmanian Devil-appropriate noises, and Kerry Argent’s illustrations certainly provide plenty of action, even if the Devils themselves are not known for their exuberance! This is definitely a book for younger, pre-school-age children, not only for the choice of language, but also for incorporating the idea that young children love to feel they can be ‘scary’ too—and who better to practise on than those closest to them? As a nice aside, both the author and illustrator will be donating a portion of their royalties to the ‘Save the Tasmanian Devil’ appeal.

Hilary Adams works in a specialist children’s bookshop in Sydney

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2007, Thorpe-Bowker