Philip Bunting, How Did I Get Here? Koala Books, August 2018, 32 pp,. $24.99 (hbk), ISBN: 9781742769684
His web site says that author/illustrator Philip Bunting admires picture books that encourage the reader and child to ask questions, chat, laugh, be silly, be serious, think, and interact throughout the book reading. He has created just such a book with How Did I Get Here?
This quirky take on the biography of you (abridged) follows the history of life, from before the Big Bang to the reader’s own arrival into the world. This is quite a big ask in just thirty-two pages! Yet the creator of Mopoke and Sandcastle has achieved it.
How Did I Get Here? is accurate yet accessible, entertaining and funny to boot. It also leaves space for further enquiry and interaction between carer and child. From the first page, which portrays our highly condensed pre-Big Bang universe as a humble orange, you know you are on a winner.
The simplistic illustration style works well in keeping accessible what could otherwise be quite a challenging topic.
An informative and very entertaining book for primary school–aged readers.
Reviewed by Julie Murphy
