Spirit of the Crocodile by Aaron Fa’aso and Michelle Scott Tucker with Lyn White

Title: Spirit of the Crocodile

Author: Aaron Fa’aso and Michelle Scott Tucker with Lyn White

Genre: Contemporary

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Published: 4^th March 2025

Format: Paperback

Pages: 256

Price: $19.99

Synopsis: An inspiring story of courage, resilience and hope, set in the Torres Strait Islander community as climate change threatens culture, tradition and connection to place, co-written by Michelle Scott Tucker and proud Torres Strait Islander creator, actor, producer and director Aaron Fa’Aoso.

The crocodile’s eyes were yellow, slit by a vertical pupil. The creature remained perfectly still, but it throbbed with life. Ezra felt goosebumps in spite of the afternoon heat, and took a few steps back.
‘Is that thing looking at you?’ asked Mason.
‘Nah. How could it be?’

Twelve-year-old Ezra is an ordinary boy who lives on Saibai, an extraordinary Australian island. He loves a laugh, he loves his family, and – almost more than anything – he loves a dare.

But when one of his dares goes wrong, Ezra realises he needs to make some decisions about helping out and measuring up. He learns that there’s more than one way to look at, well, nearly everything.

And as ever-increasing climate disasters threaten Saibai, Ezra and his best mate Mason must draw on their resilience and courage to help the community survive a massive out-of-season storm.

Set in today’s Torres Strait, Spirit of the Crocodile is a captivating novel that explores the importance of culture, community and place to a carefree kid on the cusp of growing up.

~*~

Being a child in any community should be filled with years of carefree adventures, games, dares, family and friends. Twelve-year-old Ezra has been living a life like this on Saibai in the Torres Strait. He loves laughing, his family and a good dare from his good friend, Mason. And things are going well, until one dare goes wrong. Everyone thinks it is a cry for help, because Ezra’s dares have never been so dangerous. Cheeky and disruptive, yes, but never life threatening. It changes his family dynamic, and forces Ezra, in his final year of primary school, to start growing up. After all, he has to head off to Thursday Island for high school after Christmas with Mason.

So, in the aftermath, Ezra starts seeing things differently. His family dynamic. His mother’s job. His father’s job. His sister, Maryanne, and the sacrifices the adults in his life and community have made for him and the younger kids. Ezra also sees how the increasing climate disasters are impacting his home – which will make him realise what community really means, and that division or pushing people away doesn’t always work. More than that, I found this book a wonderful way to discover Torres Strait Islander culture and language, where we see Ezra and his community celebrating it, how important it is to them. And it does a great job of explaining various practices or words and phrases in a gentle way that celebrates diversity. It celebrates this long-lived culture and how people like Ezra’s community have worked to combine their practices with modernity, to learn and have their voices heard in an ever-changing world.

It’s filled with tender moments, moments of education and moments of worry as Ezra’s carefree life continues to change, and every time he thinks something is going to work out, he is thrown a curveball – and made to feel as though he has to work things out on his own as the oldest son, despite still being a child. But he also wanted to grow up and follow his people’s customs, trying to navigate two worlds, and two sets of knowledge that can benefit everyone when combined. When we work to understand both perspectives. I loved learning about a new culture – to me, that’s what reading is about. Learning about different perspectives, cultures, countries in many different ways. And I feel like children’s books do this in a better, more inclusive way than adult books. They’re richer, more adventurous with what they might choose to portray, and there are many books around these days for middle grade and young adult readers that I wish I’d had when I was younger, for many different reasons.

What Spirit of the Crocodile does is bring what people know and don’t know together, expands on it, and showcases the culture of Ezra and his family. It celebrates the importance of culture, ceremonies and cultural practices for Torres Strait Islander people and by extension, could spark a conversation about what different readers see as their culture and how this has informed their lives or shown them where they come from. It’s powerful as well – giving Torres Strait Islander people a voice, showing how they live, and that co-operation between people of all backgrounds is what will help us in times of need.

It is books like this about community and culture that truly showcase what a different culture is like, what they contribute and how they bring two worlds together to create lives filled with joy, family and everything they need to live. It acknowledges the conflicts and knowledge gaps, and shows that using what you have at hand can be the best way to work towards making a difference. It means that everyone in Australia should be valued and celebrated, and for me, it meant learning something I didn’t know about. Something that all Australians should be learning about as part of our history and in ways that are appropriate to share everyone’s knowledge. This is a great book to either start learning or continue learning with, especially as it is peppered with accessible, gentle explanations about things that speak directly to the reader to help them get into Ezra’s world.