Songlines: First Knowledges for younger readers

Judges' comments

Songlines is a brilliant book that introduces younger readers to how Indigenous people retain and access knowledge from the land, seas and skies. Both Maro Neale and Lynne Kelly display their passion in teaching readers about the world’s oldest library with a book that is easy to navigate. This is a precious tome filled with important and fascinating information. The warm and engaging conversational tone invites the reader along on a wondrous journey of how songs, dances and traditions are passed on from one generation to another.

Blak Douglas does a wonderful job with vibrant illustrations to break up the information into digestible chunks. There are also amusing anecdotes that unearth some interesting takeaway facts. The book interacts with its readers through probing questions about how they access information from their own surroundings, tying the past and present together. Readers are asked to work out how they access memories from their own personal belongings and surroundings. They are also challenged to investigate these ancient techniques for themselves.