Lara’s day out with her mum begins with a ferry ride across the harbour. It holds the promise of a picnic 
and maybe even an ice cream on the beach when Mum’s cleaning work is done.
A large black dog lies alone on the ferry, and Lara wonders why it is there. Later, she spies it again, loping through the trees in a park on the other side of the harbour. They soon reach their destination.
‘It was built of mulberry brick, with a sloping slate roof that was grey with salt and green with moss.
The white window frames curled like cream on a birthday cake, and there was a chimney on the roof, and the clouds floated above it like puffs of smoke.’
With the sounds of her mother’s work in the background, Lara begins to explore this stranger’s house. She is surprised to discover a young boy called Pierre who is keen to show her his family heirloom puppet theatre. But Pierre has a problem and asks if Lara can help. She steps behind the puppet theatre and slips into another world….
The dog, or is it a wolf, is a key part of this world, along with other sights and sounds from her day. Can she help Pierre? Will she find her way home again?
From a multi-award winning Australian author and Australian’s Children’s Laurete. The wonderful difference with this early middle-grade novel is that it begins as narrative then seamlessly flows into a play script then out again to finish with narrative. It would make a great read aloud or school play.
It’s magical, imaginative and readers will capture glimpses of classic stories and fairytales. A bear, a wolf, a sleeping king. A puppet, a lost boy, and a river crossing. What also captured me is how the story evolved from things that Lara had seen throughout her day. Our subconscious often does this, turning sights, smells and thoughts from our day into our dreams at night. So was it all a dream or did Lara really travel to another dimension? The story reveals a tiny clue.
Author – Ursula Dubosarsky
Age – 7+
(Puppets, Fairytales, Goldilocks, Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Pinocchio, Gingerbread man, Dream, Cleaning job, Courage, Magic, Imagination,Animals)