Hermione Anemone and the Enormous Storm (Ciara Molloy Tan, illus by Michaela Blassnig, Lothian)

Despite the tongue-twisting title—try saying ‘Hermione Anemone’ five times in a row—author Ciara Molloy Tan and illustrator Michaela Blassnig’s debut picture book is a brightly coloured, cleverly rhyming book that bodes well for the duo’s future publications. Hermione is a pink anemone with purple ribbons in her hair. She lives alone, spending her time knitting socks and minding her own business, until a storm breaks out, and ‘caught up in a wave, with quite a kerfuffle, into the rock pool crashed Russell the Mussel’. Russell becomes a guest in Hermione’s home, as do a number of other unexpected sea creatures who whoosh in on the tide: Tony Abalone, Pam Clam, Delores the Seahorse, Sean the Prawn and Ishmael the Snail. Hermione is excited, and a little bit overwhelmed, by all the visitors taking refuge from the crashing waves. This book, which is suitable for preschoolers, is about making friends and getting along with different types of personalities—not to mention colour and body shapes. When Hermione’s guests eventually leave, the exhausted anemone retires for the night, happy for the company but also glad for the rest. It’s a great way to end the book, so toddlers themselves can prepare for bedtime.

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

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

Category: Reviews