Review: Zadie Ma and the Dog Who Chased The Moon
Illustrated stories about the profound transformative powers of story telling featuring animals as deputies for emotional guidance and reinforcement are a welcome feature on my bookshelves of late. Recent reviews encompassing this premise include TheBeatryce Prophecy by Kate Di Camillo and Sophie Blackall. Zadie Ma and the Dog Who Chased the Moon by the current Australian Children’s Laureate , Gabrielle Wang is another exemplary example. Zadie is the daughter of an immigrant Chinese Australian family in mid 50s Victoria, a period of history where time was more relaxed but attitudes were still coloured by bigoted, post war thinking and ignorance. Zadie fights hard to maintain her inconspicuous status as school and is conscious of being the dutiful daughter at home, helping Ma in their family run milk bar. But her penultimate talent lies in storytelling. Her brother, Teddy calls it her superpower: the ability to pen a story and then have it come true. Dog-loving Zadie is desperate...