The Dream of the Thylacine

The Dream of the Thylacine is a lament for a lost species, and a celebration of the Australian landscape. It interposes arresting text and images of the last known thylacine in a concrete cage with sweeping colour paintings of the animal in its natural environment. Intense, poetic and beautiful, this book will haunt you. Margaret Wild and Ron Brooks have created three other exceptional picture books together: Old Pig, Rosie and Tortoise and Fox.

What a privilege to pay tribute to this highly original and unique book.a book for anyone of any age who has eyes to see, ears to hear and a heart to break.

The economic 130-word text is an extended metaphor, an ode, a lament, yet also a lyric, reinforced by intriguing and absolutely ‘right’ illustrations. The thylacine here is representative of any hunted, caged, imprisoned creature capable of dreaming - of running wild, of claiming one’s biological and cultural birthright to be free.Thanks indeed to all concerned.

Maurice Saxby, Magpies