''Dot and the Kangaroo'' is an 1899 Australian children's book written by Ethel C. Pedley about a little girl named Dot who gets lost in the Australian

outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass a n ...

and is eventually befriended by a

kangaroo Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

and several other

marsupial Marsupials are any members of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia. All extant marsupials are endemic to Australasia, Wallacea and the Americas. A distinctive characteristic common to most of these species is that the young are carried in a po ...

s. The book was adapted into a stage production in 1924, and a film in 1977.Giannalberto Bendazzi, Cartoons: One Hundred Years of Cinema Animation, Indiana university Press,

Plot introduction

A 5-year-old girl named Dot is lost in the outback after chasing a hare into the wood and losing sight of her home. She is approached by a red kangaroo who gives her some berries to eat. Upon eating the berries, Dot is able to understand the language of all animals, and she tells the kangaroo her plight. The kangaroo, who has lost her own joey, decides to help little Dot despite her own fear of humans. The book is filled with criticism on negative human interference in the wild in 1884.

Film adaptations

A film adaptation was released in 1977 directed by

Yoram Gross Yoram Jerzy Gross (18 October 192621 September 2015) was a Polish-born, Australian producer of children's and family entertainment. He was known for his adaptation of children's characters from books and films, and best known for the produc ...

. It combines animation with live action.

References

External links

PDF
of the (

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

) text. * (with original illustrations) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dot and the Kangaroo 1899 Australian novels Australian children's novels Books published posthumously Novels set in Australia Children's novels about animals Fictional kangaroos and wallabies Fiction set in 1884 Australian novels adapted into films 1899 children's books Angus & Robertson books