A Dash of Adventure by Julie Williams & Mitch Oates, illustrated by Caroline Keys

Title: A Dash of Adventure

Author: Julie Williams & Mitch Oates, illustrated by Caroline Keys

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Little Steps Publishing

Published: December 2025

Format: Paperback

Pages: 32

Price: $16.95 – $29.95 AUD

Synopsis: A Dash of Adventure is a fun and exciting new children’s book that celebrates imagination, family, inclusion and adventure.
Ideal for kids, parents, teachers and therapists, it helps spark conversations about creating a world where everyone can have fun.
Join siblings Millie and Dash as they work together to make the ordinary – extraordinary!

~*~

Millie is a wheelchair user with muscular dystrophy. She’s filled with curiosity and a sense of adventure. She can find the fun and adventure in everything, even a simple trip to the shops can become a grand adventure with Dash, her brother by her side. So off they go, heading to do the groceries. The shop becomes their playground, a place of discovery and a farm. They zip around finding things, living in the world and being their best selves in a world that isn’t always inclusive.

But Dash and Millie are all for inclusion. They want to show the world that they’re there, they’re visible and they’re going to take up space. It’s a joyful book that shows the diversity in the world, and the many different ways people access the world. Inclusion is important, and disability is the one minority group anyone can join at any time. The one identity that truly intersects across race, gender, sexuality, nationality and other identities. Yet, when discussions about diversity happen, it’s the one often left out.

In this book, the world is open to Millie, and she’s living her best life. It’s a wonderful way to represent and explain disability in a positive and accessible way. Books like these that show disability in a positive way are powerful, and highlight a need to have more disabled voices heard through books and media. Why? Because everyone deserves to be included and see themselves in the books they read and the media they consume. It means that kids who use wheelchairs can share Millie’s joy. They can see that there will be people who will help them, and is a great tool to teach children about disabilities and what not to do or say to disabled people. Everything in the book is done so well, and celebrates inclusion.

I loved reading this book, because it reminded me about being kind and inclusive, and making the effort to make sure everyone in the world has their space, and can access the things they need and the things that make them happy. It’s a book that brings joy and inclusion to life for readers of all ages, and it can be used in so many ways. In schools, in families or in therapy settings to teach children and their families. Or to teach other children how including others creates a meaningful community for everyone.

Communities that include everyone like the one Millie and Dash live in are filled with diversity, and is a celebration of this diverse world, and the diverse world that we live in. It’s an important book to read, and I hope that everyone who needs it finds it.