Leo reviews: Aunty's Wedding  Written by Miranda Tapsell  and Joshua Tyler Illustrated by Samantha Fry

Aunty’s Wedding
Written by Miranda Tapsell and Joshua Tyler
Illustrated by Samantha Fry

“A wedding in a special ceremony where two people gather their friends and family together and promise to care for each other forever and ever.”

On the Tiwi Islands, a little girl asks her Maningawu (grandmother) about all the things they do to get ready for Aunty’s wedding. What will she wear? What will her brother wear? The bride and groom? What is that dance Maningawu is doing? All these questions plus the most curious of all, why do people have weddings? Maningawu will explain it all to her granddaughter, and to us lucky readers.

This book was an excellent jumpstart point for me to learn more about the Tiwi Islands (Bathurst and Melville Islands) off the coast of Australia. The Tiwi people have lived there for over 40,000 years! This was an excellent glimpse into their culture, their clothing designs, and their beautiful language. With a simple but charming story and a brilliant language guide in the back of the book, along with a brief history of the people there, I learned so much, and went on to look up more about the Tiwi Islands. An excellent book to help answer a question all children have, while introducing the wonders of our beautifully diverse world.