Mr B reviews Little Bilby’s Aussie Easter Egg Hunt

I know organised religion is not cool these days, but Easter is one of my favourite times of the year. The Easter story is about new life and new life is inspiring and makes us hopeful and happy. After the bushfires which ravaged parts of Australia in the summer, new life is now bursting forth.

The egg is an ancient symbol of new life and I think there is a fantastic opportunity this Easter for Aussie parents with little kids who were impacted by the fires to talk about the new life which can follow a natural disaster. And books like this can help you do it!

“Little Bilby’s Aussie Easter Egg Hunt” tracks the Easter egg hunt of Little Bilby and friends through “bush and scrub and oceanfront”.  They find shiny eggs belonging to a kookaburra, sandy eggs belonging to a sea turtle and green eggs belonging to………you will have to see for yourself.

At the end of the book, they find Easter eggs for all to share.

It is a beautifully illustrated and colourful book for young children aged say 2-4. The author uses rhyme and repetition in her writing – which is hugely important in the development of early literacy skills, brain development and memory. See this from the National Library of New Zealand:

https://natlib.govt.nz/blog/posts/feel-the-rhythm-developing-language-through-rhythm-and-rhyme

And Dad, if you like making animal noises, you will like this book too!

Over the years, the bilby has very much become the Aussie Easter bunny. They are cute, cuddly and like many Aussie animals, endangered. Many would have been wiped out in the recent bushfires.

Personally, I would like to see authors writing about Aussie animals donating part of the price of the book to the preservation of these animals and their environment. I would hate to think that one day, we might only be able to read about some of these animals in books.

If you like the sound of Little Bilby’s Aussie Easter Egg Hunt, you may want to check out some other great kids books here