Bush Magic
Age 4+
Picture Books
This delightful story is about the power of imagination, appreciating the natural world and spending quality time with the ones you love.
Jarrah and Grandpa love spending time together exploring the bush around their home. But one miserable Sunday it’s too rainy to venture outside, so instead Jarrah and Grandpa float away on a dreamlike quest where they meet magical creatures, save their stranded bush friends from a flood and have their most exciting adventure together yet.
Creators
Kylie Howarth is an award-winning, internationally published children’s author and illustrator from Western Australia. She is also part fish! Kylie has swum with whale sharks, manta rays and humpback whales in Ningaloo, piranha and pink dolphins in the Amazon, braved scuba diving with lionfish in Egypt, marine iguanas and hammerhead sharks in the Galapagos Islands and encountered great white sharks in South Africa! Kylie not only draws inspiration from her underwater travels but also her own two fish-kids who are ocean explorers too. The textures in Kylie’s book illustrations are created during their backyard art sessions.
Kylie won the WAYRBA Hoffman award and a KOALA Honour award. She has also been shortlisted for the Western Australian Premier’s Writers Fellowship, CBCA Book of the Year awards and the YABBA awards.
Reviews
I love picture books that reflect something of Australia and its culture, landscape, or people, and there are so many coming out now, that I think many areas are starting to be covered well. Bush Magic shows the joy of nature through the special bond of a granddaughter and her grandfather – with the word and images created by Kylie Howarth, and the book is beautiful. From the gorgeous end papers to the delightful images that make the accompanying words dance off the page, and let the story come to life. The coming together of the words and images often works so well in picture books, as the pictures tell the story just as much as the words that the author pulls together. The gentle stories like this, though filled with adventure, can be comforting and reassuring. They let us know that our loved ones will always be there for us, that we can still have fun even when things don’t go to plan, and what I loved about this book was that imagination, not a screen, was the solution to the problem of not being able to go out.
The Book Muse
The collage like illustrations have layers of intrigue and interest for young children. The intense detail invites young eyes to seek out the animals stranded on the rock, the detail beneath the sea, the toys in the lounge room. The soft illustrations reinforce Jarrah’s loving relationship with her grandfather, a touching focus of the story.
Read Plus
I adore the transition from life to imagination, and the characters’ positive attitudes which lead into and through the adventure. A warming message about imagination and making the most of any situation shines through. The Illustrations are gorgeous with a mix of textures and colours that perfectly depict a joyful Australian bush environment. Pops of colour, emotion and dialect like ‘ziggety-zoo kangaroo’ kept my kids and I wanting more. Bush Magic is perfect for groups or one-on-one reading, and would be a great inspiration to craft and other learning activities.
Kids Book Review
With Jarrah and Grandpa’s wonderful imaginations, boy, could they ever! What a hush adventure they have without ever leaving the house.
Blog of Dad
Bush Magic is a beautifully simple story about imagination, nature and spending time with family or loved ones.
Reading Time
