Daredevil Declan

Susannah McFarlane (author)

Lachlan Creagh (illustrator)

Scholastic Press, Australia: 2011

ISBN: 9781741696813

extension vocabulary

Genre: picture book

Issue: friendship, gifted, kinaesthetic intelligence

'Declan is a dinky-di daredevil. He is definitely the most daredevilish dingo down under.' Declan is a very busy dingo, always on the lookout for another dirt-bike adventure. When the rains come, what is an active body like Declan to do? Indoor activities aren't nearly as much fun – are they? Thankfully Declan's mates are ready to help out.

The fourth in Scholastic's 'Little Mates' alphabet of Australian Animals is another success. Lachlan Creagh's illustrations introduce any number of animals beginning with D that are not necessarily mentioned in the text (keep an eye out for that Dinosaur), encouraging the reader to move beyond the page and think of all the 'd' words they can. It's almost impossible for word-or-letter family books not to sound contrived but McFarlane has used her imagination – and her considerable experience as a writer to create humorous, slightly tongue-in-cheek sentences that will definitely appeal to the gifted youngster.

Great fun and a good model for care-givers to use to encourage vocabulary development.