The Dream of the Thylacine

This arresting and beautiful picture book from Margaret Wild and Ron Brooks is a shimmering encounter with the Tasmanian tiger, a lament for a lost species, and a compelling evocation of the place of animals in Nature.

The Dream of the Thylacine is a lament for a lost species, and a celebration of the Australian landscape. It interposes arresting text and images of the last known thylacine in a concrete cage with sweeping colour paintings of the animal in its natural environment. Intense, poetic and beautiful, this book will haunt you. Margaret Wild and Ron Brooks have created three other exceptional picture books together: Old Pig, Rosie and Tortoise and Fox.

What a privilege to pay tribute to this highly original and unique book...a book for anyone of any age who has eyes to see, ears to hear and a heart to break.

The economic 130-word text is an extended metaphor, an ode, a lament, yet also a lyric, reinforced by intriguing and absolutely 'right' illustrations. The thylacine here is representative of any hunted, caged, imprisoned creature capable of dreaming - of running wild, of claiming one's biological and cultural birthright to be free...Thanks indeed to all concerned. – Maurice Saxby, Magpies

Awards

• Honour Book, 2012 Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book of the Year Award - Picture Books
• Shortlisted, Wilderness Society's Environment Award for Children's Literature 2012

About the Author and Illustrator

Margaret Wild is one of Australia's best-known and best-loved authors for young people. She has published over 70 picture books for young children, and two verse novels for teenagers. Ron Brooks is an acclaimed illustrator of classic picture books, some of which have stayed in print for over 30 years.