Heavy

Nina comes from a family of strong women. Women who are used to carrying heavy loads, who are used to doing everything, often all at once. With Nina’s insight and help, these strong women might just be able to lighten their load. It’s somewhat rare and entirely refreshing to see a book on feminism, one that celebrates and champions the strength in women of all ages, for very young readers. The humour in the text and illustrations help soften the lesson in the story, yet don’t weaken it all. Highly recommended for children – and adults – who need to see the value in who they are and all they do because they’re sometimes too busy doing everything else! Themes: feminism, female empowerment, self-appreciation, mental health.

Dannika Patterson has built a reputation for gentle storytelling from a child’s perspective. Previous popular titles like Jacaranda Magic and Scribbly Gum Secrets invite the reader to see the natural world through a child’s imagination – where falling leaves become a snowstorm, or marks on a tree become clues on an adventure. Heavy similarly leans into child-friendly metaphors, this time evoking the burden of adult responsibilities via fantastically fun animal imagery, colourfully brought to life by Davilyn Lynch. Young Nina comes from a family of incredibly strong women, who happen to own an animal rescue centre. And we’re not talking puppies and kittens! Aunt Penelope, for example, regularly piggybacks Pete the Polar Bear. Gran lifts Barry the Boa Constrictor up onto sunny branches. Nina’s sister Sarah feeds a family of brown bears breakfast. Every day is a busy day for this family of brave, caring women who DO everything, JUGGLE everything, LIFT everything for all the animals in their care. How do they do it? Nina’s not sure. One day Nina begins to imagine how to encourage her family to put down some of their heavy things. Just because they can carry heavy things around all the time…doesn’t mean they have to. Nina starts inventing tools to help the animals take more responsibility for themselves. And soon, Mum, Gran, Sarah, Aunt Penelope and Nina feel much lighter. This is a story with rich language, full of alliteration and amusing animal gags. Children could read it literally as a tale of very needy animals and their supportive carers, but it rewards further conversation about obligations and boundaries within a family or community. Images like Mum carrying all the household shopping with two wild boars on her head will be relatable to many grown up readers!

The pages of Heavy are filled with inviting colour and movement as the strong, female members of Nina’s family are introduced – lifting polar bears, balancing baboons, and wrangling wild boars. Nina notices that the women in her life are always carrying the heavy load, always seem to be doing the heavy lifting, and adding more each day. She wonders how she can help her family to lighten their load. This story is an empowering and light-hearted exploration of prioritising, sharing the load, focusing on one thing at a time, and the beauty of sometimes doing things differently to avoid being overwhelm and burnout – something we all need reminding of sometimes.

Fun with a fabulously empowering message! A great read aloud for home and classrooms. Generated a lot of discussion about animals, needs and the strong women in our lives! Our group of Grade 2 & 3 children loved this story.