Dreaming (Welcome to Our Country) by Adam Goodes and Ellie Laing. Illustrated by David Hardy. Allen and Unwin 2025. PB RRP $24.99. ISBN 9781761065095
Reviewed by Debra Williams
Dreaming is a title in the
bestselling and award-winning Welcome to Our Country series. It invites
children to feel the vastness of the Dreaming and its central
place in the spirituality and lives of First Nations people. Told through
the voice of a child, Adam Goodes’ daughter Adelaide was the inspiration for
this fifth and final book in the series. It’s a story that follows a young girl
as she reflects on different ways to experience the Dreaming and she imagines
what it might be like to be part of it, both past and present.
With beautiful illustrations
(including the endpapers), it is a journey through the Muda, a word used to
describe a never-ending cycle that links the past, present and future. The
authors point out that the word dreaming means different things to different
people and invite the reader to feel and appreciate the central importance to the
culture and lives of the Aboriginal people.
Adam Goodes is an Adnyamathanha
and Narungga man and community leader. He is also a former Australian Rules
footballer. Ellie Laing is a communications executive and former journalist who
was inspired to collaborate with Adam Goodes on a children's book series aiming
to help families talk with their young children about Australia’s First Nations
history. David Hardy is a Barkindji man, author and artist.
Dreaming is recommended for children aged 4-8 years.
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