Snow White’s Escape

Zhao Lihong

Claudia Navarra

Little Steps, 2024

116pp., pbk., RRP $A16.99

9781915641151

When Liang goes to the local circus, one of the attractions is a goat called Snow White who has been trained to walk across the tightrope, even though its hooves are the wrong shape for such a trip and it is clearly fearful. When it falls from the high wire and is carried away injured, Liang is very disturbed, but that night, when he is awoken by a piercing bleat and his grandmother’s goats also making a racket, he discovers  the injured Snow White has escaped and made for the only other goats in the area.  Although his grandmother wants to return the goat to the circus, Liang persuades her to let it stay and they slowly change its fate until even the circus manager and Liang’s classmates realise what needs to be done.

In 2008, the ACT became the first state or territory in Australia to ban the use of exotic animals as circus attractions, much to the dismay and derision of many, but by April 2021 there were no such animals in circuses in Australia (albeit because of insurance issues rather than animal welfare.)  However, domesticated animals such as  horses, dogs and goats can still be incorporated and so this seemingly simple story from China could be the catalyst for a discussion about the use of animals for human entertainment, particularly as we are regularly reminded of the plight of bears and other animals through television advertising.  

In 1994, Elisabeth Stanley broke new ground when she wrote The Deliverance of Dancing Bears and brought the plight of these creatures into the school library and the class curriculum so perhaps 30 years later it is timely to put a new spotlight on the issue and debate whether it is okay to use any animal, exotic or domestic, in ways that demean it just for the amusement of people.  

So while this is a linear story with simple language and appealing pictures and without a lot of twists and turns, it it is an original storyline, ideal for those transitioning between picture books and longer stories,  and has the potential to make the reader think and perhaps inspire them to take action.