Macca the Backpacker by Matt Cosgrove

Title: Macca the Backpacker

Author: Matt Cosgrove

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Scholastic Australia

Published: 1^st June 2021

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 24

Price: $17.99

Synopsis: Macca the Alpaca dreams of exploring, so he packs his backpack and sets off on a mountain adventure. But when the going gets tough, how will Macca make it to the top?

~*~

Macca the Alpaca is back, and he is searching for adventure! So his friends, Dharma the Llama, Al, Slow-Jo the Sloth, Rhonda the Anaconda, the Yaks and Harmer, another llama help him pack his backpack, and send him off on a backpacking adventure where he becomes…Macca the Backpacker! Matt Cosgrove’s style of rhyming and humour makes the story dance around and fly through the air, as Macca the Backpacker heads off over mountains, through deserts and across the world – something that we can’t do at the moment. Yet this book gives us a sense of what the world around us is like and brings the world to us as we read in the safety of our own homes.

Matt Cosgrove’s Macca books are delightful, and this latest offering is lots of fun, and allows the reader to imagine that they are on the journey with their favourite Alpaca friend. Like many picture books, Matt Cosgrove employs rhyming  and lilting paragraphs to tell the story, showing the magic and beauty of language for children as they learn to read and recognise words and patterns of word flow. Whenever I hear about a new Macca book, I know I am in for lots of fun and joy because they are so colourful and joyful that it is hard not to smile when reading these books. This latest book is one that is surely to be treasured, and I love that we are able to read books like this and imagine travelling, especially at the moment.

I’ve read a several books lately that are COVID-free and there is something comforting about that, and reassuring. It allows us to imagine a world where COVID doesn’t exist but perhaps also a future where we will travel again – even if things look a little bit different for many of us. These books allow us to imagine and immerse ourselves in worlds where we don’t constantly have to face the barrage  of reality and news, and I find this refreshing, and Macca offers this to readers – a chance to slip away from everything that is going on in the world at the moment, and imagine something vibrantly different.

It is also a celebration of friendship and reaching your goals. Macca’s friends encourage him to go backpacking, and are there when he returns, overjoyed to see him and pleased that he followed his dreams. So if you are ever in doubt that you might never achieve your dreams, remember Macca the Backpacker – and do what makes you happy!