Books & Literature

Book Series Review: Happy Little Vegemites, illustrated by Andrew Davies

KIDS: Join a dog called Vegemite and his friends as they learn and have fun in this new series of books from the Happy Little Vegemites Children’s Publishing Program.

These books are made with enough pizzazz to make us all Happy Little Vegemites.
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Vegemite has been an iconic Australian spread since 1922 with a history that has taken it from a cultural treasure to foreign ownership and back to Aussie soil when the Bega Cheese group bought it in 2017.

It is surprising that it has taken almost 80 years for the Vegemite brand to branch out into books and other similar marketing ploys, but it has now done so with enough pizzazz to make us all Happy Little Vegemites.

With design and illustrations by Andrew Davies, a new range of short titles have been released through New Holland Media to educate and entertain kids, each centring around a dog named Vegemite.

The series targets two age groups and each title is a stand-alone success story for the young’uns. It begins with very short board books that form part of a Learn with Vegemiteseries for ages 3+. The series comprises ABC, 123, Colours, and Opposites. They’re fabulously simply, colourful and creative to teach little learners the basics. The exciting graphics combine with the bold text and overall colour to make them a pleasing drawcard.

Following these basic titles are two longer picture books for ages 6+ that centre around Vegemite and his owner Fred. Under the banner of Fun with Vegemite, these comprise Vegemite Meets Santa and Vegemite Goes to the Zoo, with a song & music book of the traditional Vegemite tune rounding out the current releases. In 2021, there will be further books added to the collection including The Vegemite Cookbook and My First Day at School. For the cynically-minded, the Vegemite series may just be a marketing ploy, but it does succeed admirably in making learning fun for children.

If there is any criticism about the Vegemite series of books, it’s that it is very white. Vegemite Meets Santa depicts characters of different backgrounds on one page, while the songbook represents a lot more diversity. Other than those two examples, there is little attempt at cultural inclusiveness. Even in the ABC book, the letter A represents Australia and I is for Ibis. It seems Aboriginal and Indigenous have been ignored, although the didgeridoo does at least get a mention.

The Vegemite series of books are sure to become popular learning tools if marketed correctly. The brand already has a cultural connection for many Australians and each title is great fun. With more 75% of Australians identifying with an ancestry other than Australian (2016 Census data) though, hopefully future releases will be more representative of Australia’s diverse population.

Reviewed by Rod Lewis
Twitter: @StrtegicRetweet

Distributed by: New Holland Publishers
Released: November 2020
RRP: $15.99-$24.99

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