"And, just at dusk, as the twilight fell, all the rabbits and rosellas and emus as well, came to the waterhole
For their long refreshing drink while the galahs screeched deafening calls for all to come before darkness falls."
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Rabbiting On Nowingi - a coloring book by Heather Traeger Trafford Publishing
book review by Linda Mae Wolter
Traeger's Nowingi coloring book includes a paragraph under each drawing where the author uses a rather awkward rhyme to describe the illustration. An empty page is left on each two page spread for a child to draw their own picture. This is a short tale of a father who hunts rabbits in Nowingi and his family's camping experiences near the hunt-site where they go to help him get the rabbits from the traps. One illustration shows children peaking into a rare mallee hen's nest, and another depicts their dad returning a lost baby fox back where he found it: back to the old mother fox who waited patiently uunder a Quandong tree.
The reader is able to follow what's happening because the story is told underneath each picture. The drawings are mainly of unusual birds and animals of Australia. A still-life of a table in the camp kitchen shows the differences and the sameness of breakfast foods everywhere. It includes tea, eggs and toast, along with shortbread cut into funny little shapes. This coloring book is educational because of the tidbits included that tell of the way of life in the Australian bush and the different species of animals found there. Rabbitting on Nowingi (a coloring book) has the potential to be used as a multi-educational tool: art and science, or art and geography. And, of course, it can also be simply a coloring book. The drawings are well done by graphic designer Peg DuVal.