The World That We Want

Kim Michelle Toft (author/illustrator)

University of Queensland Press, Australia, 2004

ISBN: 0702232483

Note: extension vocabulary, concepts

Genres: picture books, science

Issues: ecology, environment

‘This is the tide pool that lies on the beach that meets the mangrove that follows the river that weaves through the forest that filters the air that circles the world that we want.' What kind of world do we want?

One that ‘protects, feeds and shelters everything that lives in it', is the message that Kim Michelle Toft conveys through this magnificently illustrated picture book. As always her silk paintings are vibrantly coloured and have a visceral element to them that will have little hands reaching to stroke the pages.

The text itself, although it uses fairly advanced vocabulary and deals with significant environmental concepts, has as a rhythmic and repetitive style that will appeal to much younger readers than might be expected. This, in combination with the remarkable illustrations, makes the book very approachable - and of great value in the classroom, for all ages.