To the Top End: Our Trip Across Australia Book

Hooray for the best vacation in the whole world! Starting in the wonderful wilds of Tassie and then braving the big waves of Bass Strait in a tiny ferry, these adventurers travel all the way to the very tip of the Top End. On the way, they see the most amazing places, such as a whole town underground. From rainforest to reef, from Tassie tiger-territory to croc-country, from the winding Murray river to Trephina Gorge, from way out back to underground, this is a glorious showcase of Australian environments with hilarious visual and verbal jokes throughout. Don't forget to find the soccer ball—there's one on every page!

Children's Literature

The endpapers contain a map of a trip across part of Australia. The fourteen sites featured in the book are numbered and labeled. These sites are then presented in detailed double-page illustrations which cover the entire surface of the pages. The text is written to fit into the pictures, sometimes in straight lines, sometimes in curvy lines, and sometimes in circles. The narrator is one of the children taking this trip with siblings, parents, and Uncle Kevin. The human figures are very small in the illustrations and other tourists are also shown, so the only person that can be identified with any certainty is Uncle Kev. He is the one taking chances and acting like a daredevil. The last page of the book highlights the fourteen sites with a small illustration for each one. Readers in this country can get a glimpse of some of the geography, animals, sea life, and birds of Australia. Reviewer: Phyllis Kennemer, Ph.D.