While students may be familiar with places like Sydney or Melbourne, Darwin or Adelaide may be lesser known. She also invites readers to discover the lesser-known cities of Australia. Highlighting Anzac biscuits, Mintis, vegemite sandwiches and pumpkin scones, Fox’s use of quintessential foods encourages questioning, research and fun for beginning readers and adults alike. Mem’s choices in Australian foods provide a clear cultural marker, and they can aid in students’ understanding of the Australian culture. Mem’s possum tale encourages further research, inviting students to discover pavlova from Perth or the sweet taste of an Australian lamington. There was magic for thin and magic for fat, / magic for tall and magic for small, / but the magic she was looking for wasn’t there at all.” “She looked into this book and she looked into that. The fun Aussie dialect encourages readalouds and Fox’s lyrical tale helps listeners enjoy the rhyme and rhythm of poetic storytelling. The Australian foods and the varying landscape make the international text a joy to read by Australians and non-Australians alike. They taste local food and explore the land and hope that somewhere they will find the antidote to the old possum magic to turn Hush back to his visible possum self.Īustralian author Mem Fox and illustrator Julie Vivas team up to create an endearing and spectacular possum journey around the Australian states and territories. Remembering that “people food” was once the cure, the two go on a wild adventure around Australia. Sadly, Grandma Poss can’t remember how to turn him back. The two possums want little Hush to be nice and safe, so Grandma Poss turns Hush invisible! While Hush enjoys the fun of invisibility, he eventually yearns to see his own reflection and be visible once again. Hush and Grandma Poss live deep in the Australian bush.

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