Taconi & Claude

In Taconi and Claude the author, M. E. Finke, does an amazing job of carrying the reader into a different culture. The story is exciting, too.

Taconi is an aboriginal boy who lives in the Australian Outback in the 1950s. He's torn between two cultures since his father brought him along when he went to work on a homestead cattle station. (In America we'd call that a ranch. )

Taconi's father, who left the tribal grounds because of a conflict, badly needs the job of cook on the homestead and Taconi wants to help him get it. But the boy knows he must also experience the secret and scary tribal ceremony that will make him a man in the eyes of his father and tribe.

Can he find a blue kingfisher feather that will give him the luck he needs?

All through the book Taconi is accompanied by Claude, a cockatoo who always has the appropriate words for every situation. Like parrots, cockatoos can talk, but Claude's ability is both amazing and amusing.

Readers from nine to 14 years old will enjoy the story and learn about Australian culture and history at the same time.

Except for the extreme linguistic abilities of the bird, everything in the book seems realistic. The author includes Aussie jargon and describes the natural world, aboriginal culture, and life on the homestead in the 1950s naturally as the plot moves along.

I think this book is a winner.

Kangaroo Clues

Some kids I know will be studying the culture of Australian Aboriginals this week in VBS. I wish I'd known about Kangaroo Clues soon enough to order a copy for them because it's the most informative book I've ever seen on the topic for young children.

The picture book tells a creative story about a kangaroo being pursued by dingoes. Will the roo be able to escape the pack of hungry animals?

The author, Margot Finke is an Aussie native. She incorporates the religious beliefs of the people from that culture and information about the other wildlife and the environment into the story in an entertaining way.

There are footnotes on many of the pages that give more factual information which will be helpful to older kids wanting to learn more about the culture.

 The illustrations by Mustafa Delioglu capture the mystical and exciting feeling of the story very well.