"Open Your Heart to Country" By Jasmine Seymour

Age range 4+

'Welcome home lost children
To land singing you back home
Listen to its language
Learn how to speak its song'

From the award-winning creator of Baby Business (2019) and Cooee Mittigar (2019) comes a stunning bilingual story of healing and belonging.

Told in English and Darug, Open Your Heart to Country is a moving account of reconnection to Country from a First Nations perspective. Sharing the nourishing power of returning home and being immersed in the language of Country, this picture book invites readers to reflect on the importance of place, not only for First Nations' peoples but for everyone.

With exquisite illustrations and soft, lilting text, Open Your Heart to Country appeals to the very young, while sharing a deeper message for older readers. A book the whole family can enjoy.

'Open Your Heart to Country is the stunning fourth picture book from Dharug woman and award-winning author/illustrator Jasmine Seymour. It's a story of welcome and belonging told in two languages, illustrated using Seymour's signature technique, which combines painting, printmaking and digital collage...This is an exquisite book whose simple, lyrical narrative and feeling of gentle encouragement will appeal to readers aged three and up.' — Jacqui Davies, Books+Publishing

From Rose Park Community Centre:

Embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledges encourages openness to diverse perspectives, enhancing all children’s experiences with the longest surviving Indigenous culture of the world and the custodians of this land. In the Kuula room, music plays an important role in development. Educators often use song as another means of knowledge building, playing all genres of music from jazz to hip hop and everything culturally diverse in between. Through consultation with Aboriginal Elders, the embedment of Kaurna language in program and practice further enhances children’s experiences. Song plays a crucial role in achieving this.

Music is universal, songs that are sang in language, create moments of connection for all. Children model to their families the Kaurna songs, words and actions that they learn whilst at care. Kaurna words are spoken through everyday conversation, in particular through greetings, the “care for country” song in which is unpacked and modified in accordance with each room’s developmental understanding and the names of the animals on country. We acknowledge that we all have so much more to work towards, but the foundations for knowledge, the openness and willingness to learn is evident and to start somewhere is better than not starting at all.

ISBN: 9781922613769
ISBN-10: 1922613762
Audience: Children
For Ages: 4+ years old
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Number Of Pages: 32
Published: 1st June 2022
Publisher: Magabala Books
Country of Publication: AU
Dimensions (cm): 28 x 23.5  x 1
Weight (kg): 0.4