It gives me such enormous pleasure to be able to showcase four new books from ILF to celebrate Indigenous Literacy Day – and if you’ve missed it on your calendar, don’t despair! Just schedule your own event when you can – I know only too well how hard it can be fitting everything into our calendar, whether classroom or library. All the following are available from Pan Macmillan (distributors) or direct from ILF.
Gulun’: Billabong – Children of Yirrkala School
July 2025
ISBN: 9781923179516
RRP: $24.99
Written by the children of Yirrkala School in Dhuwaya and English, this delightful counting book is the result of a workshop the jarjums had with Alison Lester, Kevin Burgemeestre and Jane Godwin.
With mentors of that calibre, it’s little wonder these kiddos were able to create this lively and vibrant look at ‘who’s in the billabong?’ while counting the numbers. All the native animals will delight your Smalls as they count along. Yirrkala School has been a model for bi-lingual schooling for years now and their commitment to literacy in both Language and English is evident in the results, especially when ably aided by ILF ambassadors including some of our greatest kids lit creators. What a combination then to produce this little charmer?
Nändi ga Gatapana: Mum and the Buffalo
July 2025
ISBN: 9781923179608
RRP: $24.99
Another fun title from Yirrkala and the creative mentorship of Alison Lester. A relatively simple story that reveals a slice of daily life in Yolŋu country.
Djawundil Maymuru recounts a simple but amusing anecdote of the day her mum and her Aunty Ruthie plus the dog, Roger, went out to collect pandanus in Bawaka. While Mum and Ruthie get busy collecting the pandanus, Roger sniffs out a dark shape in the bush and oh oh! it’s a buffalo, who is very cranky about Roger’s curiosity.
Mum scoots quickly up a tree, Ruthie hides herself deep in a bush. Mum bangs a stick against the billy can she was carrying until that old buffalo takes off running on the other side of the road. Whew! The illustrations from the Yirrkala kids are full of vibrant life and expression, making this a great read all round.
Again it is bi-lingual in both Dhuwaya and English with a QR code to hear it read aloud so English-speaking kids can hear the traditional language spoken for themselves.
Grinj det K’Taun Krok! (Grinch The K-Town Croc!) – Students from Katherine High School with David Lawrence
ISBN: 9781923179462
July 2025
RRP: $24.99
This one moves from Yirrikal to Katherine and Year 7/8 students who have worked to write and illustrate a contemporary morality tale, Dreaming story. Andy Griffiths, also an ILF ambassador says of it “A beautifully illustrated, deftly told tale that tells a story as old as time itself: the skullduggery of crocodiles and the sweetness of revenge!”.
The boys love to fish and swim but nobody wants to be near the river when Grinch the K’Town Croc is around! The kids come up with a cunning plan. They buy the biggest barra they can find, stuff its mouth with firecrackers with a pull-fuse attached and wait for Grinch to take their bait. BOOM! that old croc learns his lesson good and proper when those firecrackers exploded him right out of the water. The kids know that Grinch will never scare them again, especially now he’s all lit up like a Christmas tree with rainbow lights!
It’s a fun story with some great illos. I am certainly now adopting the phrase ‘laughing like a duck’. I also love the little snapshots of each of the creative boys in the writing group on the back page.
On the Way to Yalanbara
ISBN: 9781922592682
RRP: $24.99
The Traditional Owners of Yalaŋbara call out to the spirit of the Old People, and Country cares for you. That place is healing and it calms your soul. Anyone, whether it’s Yolŋu or Balanda, can feel the spirit of that place. At Yalaŋbara you are somebody.
This pair of creators are both experienced author/illustrators, academics, Yolŋu elders, and long time active instigators of the bi-lingual program in Arnhem Land. This story is about a day trip with family and a visitor to Yalaŋbara, where the Yolŋu people were created.
But when visitor Jill arrives with her car, the mob reckons it won’t make it to the destination. Sure enough, that car gets bogged in the soft sand of the road. Was that car turned to 4WD – maybe, maybe not – but instead of getting to their destination, they are all trying to dig the car out as the day gets hotter. Eventually they give up, set up a temporary camp under the trees, yarn and reminisce about childhood trips to Yalaŋbara.
The reader may not ever get to Yalaŋbara but they will certainly get a real feel for this place with its turquoise waters, turtles and fat oysters, the history of the Macassan traders, the fish and the calming waters. It was a story that will linger in one’s mind after reading. I could not help but think how many of us would have got thoroughly angry and frustrated over the setback of the car being bogged and missing out on the visit to a much-loved place. Whereas this setback was accepted calmly, and the time was spent well until it was cool enough to come up with a plan to get the car out and back on the road home. A lesson to be learned there for sure!
These are all stories very much worth adding to your collections. While you may on another Country, this is an excellent insight into life and the living culture of some of Australia’s most remote schools and landscapes. By ordering them you are also, of course, supporting the important work of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. I give them a whole-hearted 5 ❤️💛🖤💛❤️ rating for kids of any age – and adults too.
Just So Stories 
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