Hop in the troopy and celebrate Amanbidji Garu (kids)!

Hop in the troopy and come on a tour of Amanbidji, Northern Territory with the local garu (kids)! Over 32 beautifully illustrated pages, the Amanbidji garu show all of their favourite places and things to do on their Country

The Indigenous Literacy Foundation is pleased to announce the launch of Community Publishing’s newest title, Amanbidji Garu, created by kids in the Amanbidji Community, Northern Territory. 

‍Amanbidji Garu celebrates the lives of Garu (kids) from Amanbidji, and their daily activities in Community including heading down to Bamboo Springs, looking for muscles at the Dam, visiting family working at the yard, playing at the school, hunting for bush turkey and look at all the buliki and more.

So many special places to go.
So many fun things to do. 
This is where we play.
This is our home. 
Amanbidji, Ngarinyman Country.

“It's good to have Ngarinyman in books for us to use for our kids to learn,” says Rosie Saddler, Teacher's Aid and Community Elder who helped on language in the book.

The workshops with Amanbidji School first happened 3 years ago (2023) when ILF Ambassador Ann James, Ann Hayden, Lee Burgemeesta and ILF Regional Coordinator Josie Lardy visited Amanbidji to work on this book with the Community and school.

During the second workshop, the school took Josie out to show her some of the places represented in the book. 

One of the special things about this workshop is that Bronanna Waterloo attended and supported the writing and illustrating of the book, and she is now a participant on the ILF’s Talent Pathways program. 

In the second workshop, Ann James did a follow-up video for the school, so that the authors and illustrators could keep working on their book without needing the Ambassadors to attend. 

This book is a beautiful representation of Community life in Amanbidji, and supports the children to engage in learning and reading in all 3 languages in the book – Ngarinyman, Kriol and English.