Reviewed by Dannielle Viera
Inspired by the Olympic Games, some children decide to hold the ‘Backyard Games’. They each choose a country to represent and perform a ‘parade of nations’. Then ‘the quest for gold’ begins. Not everything goes to plan – a few of the plates used as archery targets get smashed, and the frisbee discus goes flying over the fence – but everyone’s a winner. When the sun goes down, there’s no time to be sad – they’ll all meet at Yumi’s house for another festival of sport tomorrow.
Alister Nicholson channels the glorious childhood of yesteryear, when there was no such thing as screentime, and youngsters eagerly got together to make their own fun. The joyful rhyming text will encourage kids aged four to seven to get out into the sunshine and run, jump, and throw their way to sporting success while building friendships and learning about kindness and empathy. Real Australian sports stars are named throughout the text, and fascinating info about these legends appears on the endpapers.
Tom Jellett matches the exuberance of the text with illustrations that are bursting with cheerful colour. There is plenty of action to draw the readers’ eyes across the spreads, and this adds to the delightful dynamism of the story. The diversity among the young characters is commendable, and showing a child in a wheelchair fully participating in the activities is refreshing.
A sizzling celebration of all things sport, The Backyard Games is lighthearted from beginning to end. Readers will come away from the book with a positive mindset, perfectly encapsulated by a classic phrase: ‘It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.’
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