Bronwyn Bancroft

This is a beautifully rendered retelling of an Australian Aboriginal creation myth. Awakened by a voice, Sun Mother leaves her home in the sky and walks the earth. Everywhere she steps plants and trees grow. She the creates the animals by waking them up: insects, reptiles and amphibians, then birds and animals. Then she returns to the sky, but night scares the creatures, until they discover that it isn't permanent. Finally, Sun Mother gives birth to a daughter, Moon, and son, Morning Star, show more who give birth to twins, the first woman and man. Sun Mother instructs them to care for the plants and animals.
Bancroft's paintings are beautiful! Bold colors and thick lines really animate the tale. There are also notes in the back that lend credence and knowledge to the story. show less

This story takes place in Australia, and features and Aboriginal community. Stephen says that it's going to rain. We see the lingering clouds, but no rain comes. The children have to endure the hot heat for many days. Finally, a big storm comes and quenches everyone's thirst.

I really liked how the hot heat and hope of rain really parallels southern Arizona where I live. I can really relate to waiting for a big storm and enduring many painfully hot days. The illustrations have the Aboriginal show more style, and are vibrant and inviting to look at. I would love to read this to kids during the summer monsoon season. show less

Sun Mother Wakes the World is a beautiful telling of "how life on earth came to be". Children are very curious on this topic and the Australians have given a very beautiful interpretation of how it could have happened. I really enjoyed the bright colors, the oranges blues and reds that really spoke fire and life to me. The story is simply one of darkness becoming light and waking up creatures that already existed. I believe kids will enjoy imagining this story as how their beautiful earth show more came to be and that the sun mother was so nurturing. This folktale says that the earth is in a continual creation process called The Dreamtime and I definitely can agree with that. show less

Sun Mother was a really interesting book. You get to learn about the culture of South Australia and how they believe the earth came to be. I liked this book because it shows a different perspective that students in American would not necessarily know about. It is a good book for students to see how different and similar our ancestors thought about the earth being born. The book refers to the Sun Mother as the one who woke all the animals and brought sunlight to the earth. Before Sun Mother show more awoke, the earth was dark and quiet with no fish or animals. The earth too was asleep. Sun Mother had a son and daughter, Morning Star and Moon. Together, they had twins, who were the first man and woman of earth. Morning Star created them last because she had to create all of their resources first so they were able to survive. She let the animals adapt into stronger animals. For example, the wombat adapted strong claws so they were able to dig big tunnels underground. The illustrations are also very colorful and fun to look at. There are a bunch of swirls, lines, and dots to move your eye to every corner of the page.This book shows students that there can be different interpretations of how the earth, animals, elements and humans got here. It also tells students to appreciate their culture and always refer back to it when they are lost, which is a powerful lesson to teach young kids. show less