By guest reviewer Liz Bray
Sharing favourite stories, songs and jokes can be a wonderful part of family Christmas traditions. And Christmas stories can also be a great tool in the classroom as kids wind down for the year and prepare for the festive season.
There are now a number of Australian-themed Christmas picture books around, from Mem Fox and Kerry Argent’s gorgeous classic Wombat Divine to the jokier Aussie Night Before Christmas, Santa’s Secret, Santa Koala and many more.
In this book, Mitch Vane has illustrated the lyrics of John Williamson’s very funny song about a family celebrating Christmas and trying to snap the ultimate family photo. Everyone has to be in the photo, but in each stanza someone goes missing…
The text works best if you’re familiar with the song and music. As a straight read-aloud it’s a little bit ‘flat’, but if you have Williamson’s laconic voice and the bouncy, guitar-strumming background music in your mind, it’s a lot of fun. (You can find the song on YouTube here or on Williamson’s website).
The song pays tribute to plenty of Australian Christmas experiences, including Santa arriving in a ute, the Christmas Day family cricket match and associated squabbles, and some wonderful dialogue among the adults (‘yum, yum, pig’s bum’; ‘How ya been, Tangles…I hear young Greg is playing fullback.’). And a couple of clichés (the men being useless while the women organise everything; and rather a lot of beer being drunk).
For me, the best thing about this book is definitely Mitch Vane’s very detailed, humorous illustrations, which tell us so much about each family member. Looking closely as we turn each page, we can see the baby pluck the head from the Christmas fairy and then be safely caught before it goes in its mouth; a teenage cousin transfixed by her phone as chaos descends around her; and naughty Nick filling a water bomb. There are other cheeky, irreverent details including an embarrassed adult returning from the campground amenities with a toilet roll.
Who’ll love this: Irreverent kids of around 6 and up, who’ll enjoy poring over the details in the illustrations.
It’s also a great gift for family overseas – especially if they’ve spent a Christmas in Australia and are familiar with some of our traditions.
As part of a classroom Christmas library, and prompt conversations about what Christmas means in Australia.
Price: $19.99
Publisher: Penguin Books Australia
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