The Walloos’ Big Adventure

Meet the Walloos… wallaby/kanga cross? Big Walloo, Spotty Walloo, Old Walloo and Little Walloo live on a small rocky island. Old Walloo is the family storyteller, and Little Walloo can’t wait to have his own adventures. So Old Walloo builds a boat and the four set off, eventually arriving at a tropical, exotic island where life becomes…. peachy! But over time, they feel their island is changing. Is it hotter?…. Is it MOVING? Old Walloo and Little Walloo agree something isn’t right. Midst GURLES and WURGLES they realise the land IS moving. Little Walloo bounces about until she lands on something like a nose. The nose morphs into an enormous hippopotamus, who explains to Little Walloo that she is far too hot in the scorching sun and is about to dive deep under the water. There, the plants are tall and green and will shelter her from the burning heat. The Walloos realise that all the plants that had surrounded and protected hippo are gone. They had destroyed her safe home! The telling of how they regenerate a sheltering environment for hippo is beautifully told, and soon there is again an exotic island. The illustrations give a feeling of size and space… of adventure and fun;… from the two endpapers, to each exciting spread. The first endpaper is a blueness full of drifting fish shoals, which are joined in the last endpaper by numerous hippos, attracted to the renewed environment. In a range of predominantly blue and green colours, the four Walloos stand out in contrast, along with all the exotic plants. Each character is well portrayed…see Spotty Walloo (Mum) snoozing on their boat trip! The gentle eco message about protecting and respecting the natural world is delightfully told, well married between the text and pictures. A book to enjoy and treasure.