Emma Memma: Christmas Lights

By Emma Memma, Oliver Brian & Amy Josephine Wright

Reviewed by Margarite Igras

Emma Watkins is passionate about integrating Australian sign language in song and dance form to entertain and educate all children regardless of ability. Together with illustrations by hard-of-hearing Amy Josephine Wright, they have come up with a Christmas book aimed at preschool children, that includes sign language in a colourful Aussie festive story.  Emma Memma is a well-known children’s character, and in this story, younger children will recognise her other regular story characters such as deaf ballet dancer Elvin Melvin, The Butterfly Buss and Waffles the Wombat.

Emma Memma and Elvin Melvin begin with some key signs that will be integrated into this Christmas story. Signs such as friends, Christmas, stars, lights. Its Christmas and the neighbourhood sparkles with lights of all shapes and sizes. But Emma Memma, Elvin Melvin and BB Butterfly want to see more. They head off in their Butterfly Bus and on the way, visit a special friend Waffles the Wombat who lives in a nature park out of town. It appears his burrow has no festive lights, until Waffles points out that the festive season is always with us, above in night-time stars.

The illustrations are bright, and colourful and together with the simple large verse text that radiate from each page,  give the reader a glimpse of the magic of Christmas. As the story unfolds, there are prompts to use the new sign words introduced at the beginning of the book. There is also some interesting additional information about the author and illustrator at the end of the book.

An ideal Christmas stocking gift for 3- to 5-year-olds that offers more than a festive story by incorporating Auslan and asking the reader to look beyond the sparkling festive lights to our beautiful night skies.

Puffin 2024

Emma Memma

Amy Josephine Wright