In this brightly coloured and busy book Frané Lessac takes us on a wonderful journey from Tasmania to the Northern Territory and to all the capital cities of Australia in between. As we turn the pages, we see crowds of people watching the fairy penguins waddling up the beach on Phillip Island, while near Hobart, some lucky families are sitting on the sand watching the aurora australis, a rainbow of colours swirling in the night sky. In Darwin, other crowds are sitting on deck chairs in an outdoor movie theatre while in Melbourne lots of excited fans are barracking for their favourite AFL players. And it’s not only happening in the capital cities. On the Daintree River a boatload of people are shining their torches at the red eyes of crocodiles while around Broome it’s full moon and a staircase of gold is shining on the water.

But the incredible thing is that all of these people no matter where they are in Australia and what they are doing, are under our most famous constellation, the Southern Cross. And if the sky is clear everyone can look up and see it. And not only in Australia but anywhere in the Southern Hemisphere. We may not find this mind-boggling but maybe the children, if given the chance to read this book, will.

And just for fun, the author has hidden his dog, Banjo, on every page, and he’s under the Southern Cross too.

Reviewed by Merle Morcom
Age Guide 7+