Tom Tom by Rosemary Sullivan
This is a beautiful book for young children. The illustrations are amazing and the very simple story of Tom Tom’s average day is somehow ideal.
Tom Tom is a very young boy who spends every day with his mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, grannys and cousins. He visits Grannie Annie every day, goes to school, then down to Lemonade Springs to swim with his brothers and sisters and cousins, and then home to sleep with Granny May and Grandfather Joe. This is a simple story of an average day. No drama, no disaster, just a warm caring story.
The simple story accompanied by Dee Huxley’s illustrations express to even the youngest child the life of an Aboriginal boy living in Australia’s Top End. This story for an audience of children at about the same age, is sure to improve understanding between the two races that share this country.
July 13th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
I agree that the book is charming, but as a mother, grandmother and teacher, I am disturbed by the fact that a preschooler is portrayed routinely jumping from a rope-swing and swimming without direct parental supervision or even the suggestion that Tom Tom is being loosely supervised by his wider family group at the waterhole. Regardless of cultural sensitivity, the book sends the wrong message about water safety and responsible parenting.