After her renowned picture books Baby Business and Cooee Mittigar, Jasmine Seymour is back with Open Your Heart to Country. This is a visually stunning picture book; Seymour’s distinctive illustration style of combining printmaking and painting with digital collage results in delightfully deep blues and purples, contrasted with a variety of bright flowers, birds and other wildlife. I was drawn to each character, deep in concentration in their connection to Country while they swim, dance and perceive the world around them.

Particularly impressive is Seymour’s use of both English and Dharug text. This invites young readers to consider how language and Country are inseparable, and how languages can differ so much: ‘Listen to its language. Learn how to speak its song. Ngara Ngurrangai dhalangu – Listen to the language of Country.’ This picture book is part of an ongoing effort to teach and pass on the Dharug language, and includes a song and pronunciation guide at the back of the book. For ages 3+.

Clare Millar is from Readings online