Littlelight

Kelly Canby

Fremantle Press: 2020

ISBN: 9781925815764

Age: 4+

CBCA Notable Book 2021

Reviewed by Viv Young

Bricks are going missing from the town of Littlelight and letting in all the different sounds, smells and stories of the northern, southern, eastern and western peoples. The mayor is stirring up the people towards anger and hostility, but the sounds, smells, and stories are stirring up something else.

Littlelight is a hopeful tale that encourages readers to think about the benefits multiculturalism brings to all peoples. It treats lightly but effectively the issue of mob mentality and also leadership—the mayor stirs up the people towards anger and the people do follow his lead but only to a point. This aspect of the book could be useful for parents talking about how to respond to racism in the community and the importance of questioning those in positions of power.

The illustrations for Littlelight use dramatic two-tone spreads, contrasting the mayor’s dull grey city with the colour of each vibrant culture beyond the walls. The hues of these places are almost fluorescent — they glow as if the process of enlightenment is taking place on the page as the townspeople come to understand how they benefit from the differences they are encountering. While there is no violence in the story, the facial expressions of the characters convey aggressive anger powerfully and are a useful way to talk about what intolerance looks like and how it might feel for those who experience it.

Littlelight reads like a fairy-tale; this timeless quality gives it an authority and a gravity that suits its serious subject matter, while the resolution and artwork keep it always optimistic.