Age 3-7

Set in Australia around 1900, this picturebook is notable for Jan Ormerod’s atmospheric landscapes and figure drawings. In crayon, watercolour and gouache, with a skilful and immensely satisfying pencil line, they convey dazzling sunshine, autumnal softness, interiors lit by oil lamps, and faces and bodies that express patience, playfulness, anxiety, hope and, above all, tenderness. Based on the life of the author’s grandmother, the book records pioneer days in the bush, and is reminiscent of The Little House on the Prairie. The father must leave his wife, little Lizzie and the baby in their isolated homestead while he goes to town for weeks, for work. Mother and Lizzie water the vegetables, collect firewood and sew. Lizzie has a lively imagination: when she prepares vegetables, they are peaches and cream and cakes; when she gathers wild flowers, she’s a bride with a bouquet; when she mends socks, she’s making a party dress. “You and your nonsense,” says her mother, but her father too is full of affectionate nonsense. With its kangaroos and kookaburras, and leg-of-mutton sleeves and button boots, this is a timeless story about the warmth of family.

(Little Hare £9.99)

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