Allen and Unwin ISBN 9781911631859 £9.99
Tashi is listed in 1001 Children’s Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up, and with good reason. The creation of Australian mother and daughter combination Anna and Barbara Fienberg, Tashi came into being 25 years ago, hence the reissue of three of the stories in this edition. Tashi is a small creature from another place, the product of a small boy Jack’s fertile imagination, and Tashi has very exciting adventures. In this first book, we learn how Tashi arrived in Jack’s world on the back of a swan, escaping a war lord to whom he had been sold by his parents to raise the money to emigrate. With glorious touches of humour, Dad exasperates Jack because You always ask the wrong questions: was the swan black or white, how much did the air tickets cost, did he arrive in the morning or afternoon? Adults reading the stories will identify with a parent trying, not always successfully, to engage with a small boy’s inventions; children will identify with an adult interrupting the narrative. The pencil drawings by the late Kim Gamble are beautiful – the perfect accompaniment to the text. This volume would serve as an excellent class reader for younger primary pupils, paving the way for newly confident readers to explore the other stories independently.
Elizabeth Broad