The Australia Book (Eve Pownall, Black Dog Books, $34.99 hb, ISBN 9781742030418, May) ***

As many teachers, readers and booksellers will be aware, there are very few complete books of Australian history for primary school-aged children available, which is what makes Eve Pownell’s The Australia Book unique even by today’s standards. So it’s no wonder that when The Australia Book was first released in 1952 it was received with great acclaim and went on to win the Children’s Book of the Year Award in the same year. Complete with full-colour illustrations this book tells the history of Australia from the arrival of the first fleet right up to the time when the book was published in the early 1950s. The book works chronologically through key events including the Gold Rush, the Eureka Stockade and federation and also includes a number of well-known historical figures such as Burke and Wills, Ned Kelly and Sir Charles Kingsford Smith. The purpose of the book is to give a historical synopsis so there is not a lot of detail but more a brief retelling of the main events. This classic Australian Children’s book
is sure to find nostalgic appeal among grandparents and teachers who remember this book from their own childhood, however I can’t help wondering how differently this book would be worded if it was written today.

Candice Cappe is the manager of the National Library of Australia Bookshop in Canberra

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2008, Thorpe-Bowker

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