AustLit

River Dreams is the fourteenth collection of children's writing and art published as part of Special forever: an environmental communications project, a partnership between the Murray-Darling Basin Commission and Primary English Teaching Association.

This collection is as alive with birds, lizards, livestock and people as are the million square kilometres of the Basin itself. The children of this part of Australia are full participants in their communities and ecosystems. They drive the tractors, round up the cattle, help with shearing and watching the weather with the same hopeful, clear gaze as their parents. They listen to their elders, the Aboriginal custodians of dreamings and the nannas and grandpas who remember the floods and the fun times of their own childhood.

And they explore the natural worlds - wetlands and dry - that are united and defined by this great river system. Not a frog, a damselfly, a wren or a tiny bush flower is ignored; all these and more are seen, scented, drawn and described in these pages.

This collection of poems, stories and pictures show that the children of the Murray-Darling Basin strongly appreciate their natural and cultural heritage. Browse through the pages and be refreshed by their energy and humour, by their thoughtfulness, and by their sharp observations about their world and its future. (Source: back cover)