Thunderstorm Dancing

Katrina Germein

Judy Watson

Allen & Unwin, 2015

hbk., 32pp., RRP $A24.99

9781743314593

A day at the beach.  The sky darkens and the sea turns a sinister shade of green.  Thunder rumbles.  Shh. Listen.  What can you hear?  It’s coming closer. Time to pack up.  Can you feel it?  It’s ominous and a bit scary.  Sit beside me. 

In a paucity of words accompanied by the most evocative pictures, a storm brews out to sea, rumbles in and hits with powerful fury.  But instead of letting the fear take over, Daddy makes the fierce into fun as he encourages his family to be the storm.  He is the wind whizzing and blowing, howling and growing, making trees whoosh! making seas swoosh!  Tommy is the clouds and Poppy the thunder, Lachie is the lightning and Mummy the rain – everyone swirling and swishing into the most outrageous cacophony of sound and exuberance of movement taking the storm on at its own game.  Making it fun and not frightening.  Until it passes and all is calm and safe and Granny brings the sun and the last page is the most beautiful of all.

With its fantastic vocabulary, rhyme, rhythm and repetition the story is the storm full of the most amazing and inspiring energy – you just want to get up and move and make noise and join in the fun.  It is a joyous celebration of something that can be scary and intimidating and is the perfect example of how careful colour choice and the use of line and expression are integral to creating mood and atmosphere. Just like a storm, it builds to a crescendo and then suddenly there is peace and serenity until…  Even without yet having read it to my Year 2 audience, I can hear it in my head and know they are going to adore this and it will add so much to what they have been learning about setting, characters and plot.   

But apart from that it’s just a rollicking good read that encourages us to embrace our fears, stare them in the face and poke fun at them by making ourselves their master.