Without Me? (Kayleen West, Wombat Books)

The desire to run away from home is fairly common among young children who have yet to learn how to control their emotions when things don’t quite go their way. Nothing seems easier than escaping the source of your troubles, and this act of defiance seems like a small way of wrestling back some control in a world ruled by grown-ups. Kayleen West’s book features a boy or a girl (the gender is deliberately ambiguous) who is upset for some unspecified reason and, believing that he or she is unloved, prepares to set off. But what about the family dog? ‘If my puppy went without me, who would feed him?’ wonders the child. So puppy comes too, along with kitten and baby sister—because who else would play peek-a-boo with her? And so the list grows as the runaway child decides to bring along the entire family, including the parents. In the end the hapless child decides it’s probably easier to stay at home with the rest of the family. Without Me? helps children deal with their frustrations in a humorous manner, and is best suited for preschoolers or early primary school readers.

Thuy On is a Melbourne-based writer and reviewer and the books editor of the Big Issue

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

Category: Reviews