Uno's Garden

Graeme Base (text & illus)

Viking, Penguin Group, Australia: 2006

ISBN: 9780670041916

Genres: allegory, picture book

Issues: conservation, ecology, environmental awareness, sustainability

CBCA Notable Book, Picture Book of the Year, 2007

When Uno first arrives in the forest, he finds a rich, fertile environment crowded with many fascinating creatures. He decides to live in this beautiful place but gradually a small town spreads around him.

This has a dreadful impact on the fragile environment and soon the precious creatures begin to disappear. Partly a very unusual counting book, partly an allegorical tale about mankind's negative impact on the natural environment, this is a clever, thought-provoking book.

The illustrations are of Base's usual high standard, the whimsical creatures wonderfully surreal. Base uses subtle colour and tonal variations to emphasise changes to the environment - murky yellows and browns for images of the environment at its most depleted; oranges and bright pinks for periods of greatest damage; and rich, heavy greens and blues for the original pristine forest.

While adults may question its spontaneity, child readers will delight in the Dahl-esque names of creatures - Moopaloops, Sunnycups and Gondolopes, for example. The sustainability theme is sufficiently clear to provoke discussion and opinion from the youngest readers.