The Complete Adventures of Blinky Bill

Dorothy Wall (author/illustration)

Angus & Robertson, Australia: 1939, 1990

ISBN: 0207947007

Genres: adventure, animal stories, classic

Issues: environment

The adventures of the mischievous young koala, Blinky Bill, are a must for every young Australian. Although some language and characterizations have understandably dated, these are classic tales of Australian characters for Australian children.

Dorothy Wall was an early advocate of animal welfare and her stories were designed to teach children to value and treat respectfully the native animals of their country, as well as demonstrating the mixed (and often mistaken) attitudes of adults at the time. Dorothy Wall wanted to raise a more enlightened generation.

Talking animals can be overly quaint but naughty Blinky meets and introduces the reader to many Australian animals that talk about animal things in believable ways - their different foods, habitats, family life and predators.

Blinky follows his big, black nose into a great deal of mischief, including human territory. He invades the local store and east the peppermints. He raids a farmer's crops for supplies for his mother's guest house. On one terrifying occasion he and his mother are caught and taken to a zoo but a grand escape is planned with the assistance of a helpful kangaroo.

These are still very entertaining stories and wonderful to read aloud to children as their structure is episodic. Many young readers will have seen the cartoons, heard the song - now take them back to the original.