The Cocky Who Cried Dingo
Yvonne Morrison
Heath McKenzie
Little Hare
hbk; RRP $24.95
9781921541421
“In the back of beyond, underneath the hot sun,
lived a huge flock of parrots, who loved to have fun.
They would scratch in the dirt, and splash in the creek,
Sing raucous songs and then dance beak-to-beak.”
And among them was a handsome and arrogant young cockatoo who was not yet ready to go to sleep. He liked to play tricks, and if you are familiar with the traditional tale of The Boy who cried Wolf, you can predict the storyline of this Australian version. But what happens when the real dingo comes? Are the other parrots sick of his tricks and do they ignore him? Does Cocky escape with a valuable lesson learned?
The rhyme and rhythm of this story have it bouncing along and young listeners and readers will join in with the chorus in delight, shouting out for help. They will be on edge as it reaches its climax and shiver when they see those fierce dingo teeth. It can spark discussion about telling the truth and be the perfect forerunner to Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf? a free unit of work based on the original tale available from the National Digital Learning Resources Network (ID# R11580).
The pairing of Morrison and McKenzie is perfect – the colourful, whimsical illustrations are just right to build the tension but not overwhelm with fear. A must for any school library collection which supports a values curriculum.
Others in the series are