Shadow Play

Kate Forsyth

Rosalie Street

Wombat Books, 2024

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

9781925563740

Minnie May is afraid of everything, even her own shadow.  No matter where she goes outdoors it follows her as though it is tied to her heel.  It mimics her every movement  swirls in the water, crouches under her bed, reaches with black claws from the trees and looms large and terrifying in the tall buildings around, and, as the day goes on and it gets larger and linger, it grows more menacing Minnie’s fear and anxiety grow and she believes the only way of escape is to hide, crouching low under a large umbrella until the shadow shrinks away.

But then one day while Minnie is hiding, she spies another shadow-one that is larger than her own. But rather than being threatening, she discovers it belongs to Ziggy. And he is not afraid of it. In fact he celebrates it showing  Minnie many things that can be done with shadows, such as telling the time and casting shadow puppets on the wall., even making it be in front of them as they swing higher and higher. At last,  Minnie isn’t afraid of her shadow any more, in fact, she likes her shadow.

Lots of our littlies are afraid of things they don’t understand and can’t articulate, especially shadows, and that one that occurs every 24 hours – night time.  Even though Rosalie Street has painted Minnie’s shadow as a benevolent fairy-butterfly, the unknown and unexplained still frightens Minnie until she learns the truth from Ziggy.  So, while these fears are common and will resonate with our young ones, there is much we can do as their carers to help alleviate them by taking them outside and making shadows fun and fearless.  Games like trying to jump on each other’s shadow, marking your shadow in chalk on the pavement at different times of the day; making shadow shapes on the wall – the list is endless and as well as having fun and facing their fears, there is also some valuable science and maths occurring as well.  

An ideal introduction to so many areas – emotional connections and recognising our fears and investigating them so their reality is put in perspective through new-found knowledge, not to mention all the maths and science, language and art that permeates the curriculum. Imagine the learning if you put your students in Ziggy’s shoes to devise their own explanation about shadows for a younger child!