I love a sunblessed country is beautifully written by Allison Clarke and exquisitely illustrated by Cat MacInnes. Long term readers of this blog will be familiar with the name Allison Clarke as she has written a number of incredible guest posts for this blog on children’s literacy. If you haven’t seen them, you can find them here.
I have been lucky enough to know Alison for almost 20 years! She is a Melbourne based Speech Pathologist and ESL teacher with over 20 years experience, whose website spelfabet.com.au aims to assist anyone who wants to help a learner with their reading and spelling, and especially to boost a learner’s ability to “hear” sounds in words (phonemic awareness) and understand how these sounds are represented by letters (phonics).
Her book I love a sunblessed country is a simple and optimistic children’s book. It is written in a style that echoes an Australian classic poem and is accompanied by beautiful illustrations to help us imagine a fair, sustainable, prosperous, peaceful future in Australia.
It positions what is currently happening in our country to what could be happening in our country and does it in a way that is not scornful or negative but is simply highlighting the huge potential we have to be different.
It looks at our society as a whole across the different aspects of our lives and it is an invitation to the reader to think and talk about the issues it raises and the part we can play in creating positive change.
I made a short recording of me reading the book which you can watch below!
In times when it can seem that the many societal and environmental issues we are facing are overwhelming, I love a sunblessed country encourages us to imagine who we can be when we work together with purpose. As the book notes on the back cover:
To create something, first imagine it.
You can purchase the book from the website I love a sunblessed country and any profits from the sale of the book will be donated to the Australian Youth Climate Coalition.