Spinifex Mouse is a story of life in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Early one morning a little spinifex hopping mouse named Cheeky sneaks out of his burrow leaving the rest of his family to sleep while he greedily searches for another tummy-full of seeds. Cheeky, a lively youngster, is full of bravado and gets swept up practicing his clever tricks hopping and somersaulting in the face of impending danger. The resulting story demonstrates the tensions present in nature and serves as a gentle reminder of how easy it can be to get into trouble when not paying enough attention.
Norma MacDonald’s illustrations are delightful—filled with a sense of life and movement on every page. An artist from the Yamatji people of the Gascoyne Region and the Nyungar people of southwestern WA, MacDonald’s work is held in art galleries across Australia. Spinifex Mouse is MacDonald’s first picture book but likely not her last. Her vibrant watercolour illustrations have succeeded in capturing the personality of the spinifex hopping mouse perfectly, as he bounds around the desert on his large hind feet.
There were a few moments where the story stumbles in terms of its flow and continuity. The star of this story is certainly the gorgeous Cheeky, but the narrative opens with another character and slip-slides around a bit before finding its rhythm. But the language is lovely and when it does find its footing the story is a rollicking adventure of life in the dry landscape of the Pilbara.
Spinifex Mouse is published by Magabala Books, Australia’s oldest independent Indigenous publishing house, who aim to ‘promote, preserve and publish Indigenous Australian culture’.
Spinifex Mouse is a great story for young children curious about Australian animals, and with the factual information included in the book’s back-matter it is the perfect accompaniment to teaching units on the same subject.
Chloe Killen is a PhD candidate investigating creativity in the production of Australian children’s picture books. She also convenes #pblitchat, a Twitter-based chat about picture books held every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month.