Indonesia by Carmel Reilly

This Country series. Pearson Australia, 2011. ISBN: 9781442546974. 32 page, hardcover.
This colourful non-fiction title provides a general overview of location, history and modern life in Indonesia. The table of contents includes the headings Environment, In the past, Government, People, Day to day life, Unique relationship as well as including a timeline of events, glossary, index and the URL of a website which can be visited to seek further information. There are full page colour photographs in each section, along with solid blocks of information, interspersed with additional smaller photographs, captioned maps, diagrams and fact boxes. Topics begin with introductory paragraphs presented in bold type as well as bold paragraph headings highlighting general subjects and the names of the islands which make up Indonesia.
The information presented in this title contains names and events which are likely to be familiar to young children as they are still mentioned in the media. Amongst these are the Bali bombings and the infamous Schapelle Corby. Although, at first glance, the text appeared to have been too densely presented, closer investigation reveals that, with only a paragraph or two under each heading, it is well suited to students in both upper primary and early secondary years. This text would be an asset to schools offering Indonesian as their LOTE subject.
Jo Schenkel