FROM THE DREAMTIME: Australian Aboriginal Legends ...

FROM THE DREAMTIME: Australian Aboriginal Legends by Jean A. Ellis, illustrated by Biggibilla (CollinsDove: $9). Aboriginal culture holds a special fascination because of its extraordinary antiquity, which anthropologists estimate at 30,000 years or more. Like most myths, these simplified tales set in the legendary past of the “Dreamtime” explain how the world came to be as it is. The Koala never drinks water because he is the descendant of a mistreated orphan named Koobor, whose tribe left him to die of thirst. The platypus, whose curious anatomy seems to incorporate elements of land animals, birds and fish, declined invitations to become a member of any single group: He serves as a reminder that all living things were made by Byamee, the great father-of-us-all, and that all deserve to be treated with equal respect. Parents in search of unusual read-aloud material will enjoy sharing these stories of exotic animals and benevolent but puissant ancestor spirits with their children.