Why is that emu wearing one red shoe? by John Field

Ill. by David Legge. Scholastic, 2016. ISBN 9781760154493
(Age: 4+) Recommended. Bush song, Singalong, Australian animals. With an accompanying CD version of the bush song in this hardback book, teachers, children and parents will have great fun with this rollicking rhyming ballad. Songwriter and performer, John Field has put pen to paper using recognisable Australian backgrounds and animals. The ballad includes a range of animals that are also shown in the illustrations by David Legge. Both text and illustrations will encourage readers to differentiate between Australian and non Australian animals.
Great fun will be had reading the book, singing along with the CD, predicting the rhyme that ends each line, adding verses of your own. The illustrations draw the eye towards the range of things shown on the page, encouraging the reader to look more closely at the details shown, recognising the Australian background for themselves.
As emu goes on his walk he attracts the attention of a range of animals who attach themselves to him, following in his wake. So it is not just emu on his walk, but a straggle of hanger-ons, all wondering why he has only one shoe. On the end of the line come a jogger and motor cyclist, and they all end up at a shop which makes shoes.
A monkey fits his new shoes and all is well.
A happy, rollicking ballad for kids to listen to, sing themselves, and join in.
Fran Knight