Wait a Minute!

By Shelly Unwin &  Lana Azore

Reviewed by Sandy Driessens

“Time to go! Wait a minute! I’ve got to tie my sh … sheep together.”

Ah, the morning rush for parent and child to leave home and be on our way, to our destination, on time. But wait a minute! … there are so many things to do and things that are needed before we can head off.

Shelly Unwin has created a hilarious version of the morning routine. “Wait a Minute!” has all the urgency in mother’s voice and all the excuses, to delay leaving, that an imaginative child would think up. Of course, alliteration is the key e.g. teeth and tiger’s tail, lunch and llama laugh, all written to work perfectly in the context of preparing to leave.

Lana Azor’s illustrations complete the comedy. With bright paint and crayon finish, she captures mum’s and child’s personality and body language. The creature characters are loveable and lively. Cleverly, she creates the unexpected relationship between the creatures and morning check list with details that indicate the actual item or act being reimagined. The clock in the background shows that it is a very long minute.

Three hours is a very long Minute but the joy that is expressed in this story reminds us how precious those minutes are. Mum joins in the game at the end, searching for her k … kangaroo, much to the perplexity of her little person. This is a wonderful book that parents (who probably can relate) should share with their little people to put the fun back in to the morning chaos.

 Larrikin House 2025

Shelly Unwin

Lana Azore