It’s raining outside and Henry is stuck inside with nothing to do so he heads off to find his mother. She is busy writing her novel but suggests he draws something. But what, he wonders? ‘Something amazing,’ she says.

Henry heads off to his bedroom and gets out his coloured pencils and stares at the paper. He couldn’t think of one amazing thing. He couldn’t ask his mother again as she has a sign on her door, ‘Do not disturb unless an emergency’. He imagines emergencies like being chased by a dinosaur, but nothing like that was actually happening. So … he heads off to ask other members of the family.

He finds his sister looking through a microscope. ‘What is the most amazing thing?’, he asks. ‘Life!’, she exclaims. Henry peers through the microscope at the moving blobs, each a living creature, full of life. Henry didn’t really feel full of life. He finds his brother meditating. It’s the mind, he says. Think of all that it can do! His father says, of course, it’s the universe! He peers though his telescope at the billions of stars.

Henry isn’t very inspired to draw these things so returns to his mother who gives him the answer he is looking for. He looked down at himself. Something unique and truly amazing.

The Most Amazing Thing is a beautifully written book with such engaging illustrations. It cleverly offers us some understanding of life while gently reminding us that we are all unique, and how truly amazing is that. Perfect.

Reviewed by Jane Stephens
Age Guide 4+

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ian Hayward Robinson is a former head of Professional Writing and Editing at Chisholm Institute where he taught for 14 years. He has run courses on Story Structure and conducted workshops at many writing conferences across Australia, including for the Storytellers Guild, the Romance Writers of Australia and Writers Victoria. He is a trained primary school teacher who worked for many years in curriculum development and teacher development for the Victorian Department of Education, and has written over 24 mathematics textbooks for primary schools.

He has had two full-length plays performed at La Mama in Melbourne and won several one-act-play awards. The Most Amazing Thing, illustrated by Matt Shanks, is his first picture book. Ian was a tutor in Philosophy at the University of Melbourne and taught Philosophy of Education at Coburg Teachers College. He is President Emeritus of the Rationalist Society of Australia. Ian lives on Phillip Island in south-east Victoria within walking distance of the sea.

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

Matt Shanks is an internationally published and critically acclaimed author/illustrator of over twenty picture books, several of which have been awarded CBCA Notable Books. Simplicity, humour and the art of the unseen are strong themes in his illustration work, and he works primarily in watercolour. Matt has collaborated with some of Australia’s most loved writers including Jackie French, Peter Helliar and Jimmy Barnes. He is a two-time fellow of the May Gibbs’ Children’s Literature Trust and an Australian Literary and Numeracy Foundation ambassador. Matt was born in Sydney and now lives in Melbourne with his partner and cat.