This little picture book of first words is a fantastic invitation to learn another language spoken by Indigneous people. It’s written in Noongar and English with every page packed full of illustrations featuring little brown bodies. We begin with the Moort family. There’s father, ‘maambart’; mother, ‘ngaangk’; grandfather, ‘moyran’; grandmother, ‘kabarli’ and more.

Then we come to ‘boodja’ (country) words. Sky is ‘worl’ and river is ‘bilya’. The sun is ‘ngaangk’. As we turn the pages all the wonderful Australian trees and flowers are featured, like the wattle, ‘kalyang’ and the banksia, ‘mangatj’ . Our unique animals are here like the goanna, ‘kaarda’ and the emu, ‘wetj’ and my favourite, the bilby, ‘djalkat’. All the sky and water creatures make an appearance too. But there are also words for feelings and colours. Last of all we learn to say ‘Kaya’ which is hello or yes, and ‘Boordawan’, talk to you later.

This book provides a wonderful opportunity for parents and teachers, especially those who live in the Noongar Country of Western Australia. There is also a QR code in the book which you can use to access online audio to help you with pronunciation. More please!

Reviewed by Merle Morcom
Age Guide 5+