Dim's Write Stuff

As much of Australia celebrates NAIDOC Week 2021, I sift through my stacks of indigenous inspired picture books and pull up at these two by one of my favourite author illustrators, Gregg Dreise . Dreise’s storytelling through considered speech and stunning artwork never fails to elicit wonder and respect. Significantly, the National NAIDOC Week 2021  theme this year is Heal Country, which calls for stronger measures to recognise, protect, and maintain all aspects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and heritage, sentiments that permeate powerfully through Dreise’s work.  My Culture and Me Imbued with traditional Indigenous dot painting and artwork throughout, My Culture and Me is an ode to Country. Dreise employs descriptive verse to encourage a song about the natural features of Country, gradually transferring the colours of the land onto the peoples who reside there. As their heartbeats pulse, so throbs the spirit of the land demonstrated as feet stamp percussion on