Families and communities support children’s communication development by telling stories and reading books. The aim of this research was to identify culturally appropriate context-specific resources (children’s books) to support children’s communication and literacy. An Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (ACCHO) in rural Australia invited the researchers (speech-language pathologists at a local university) to collaborate. Ethical approval was gained from the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council. Over 15 months, the ACCHO leadership team and staff met with the university researchers to plan the research. The first action research cycle involved identification of Indigenous children’s books. The child health navigator met with ACCHO staff, local educators, and the university researchers to identify 56 Indigenous books that were purchased using grant funding.
The second research cycle involved 32 ACCHO staff submitting 149 ratings of 56 books over 2.5 months. Overall, the books scored a consistently high rating (4.34/5), considering the cover (4.32), artwork (4.38), and text (4.30). Participants wanted the majority (83.89%) of books for their service. Positive features included: vocabulary, story development, ease of reading, artwork, opportunity to think and learn, Indigenous language, history, and culture. Negative features included difficulty pronouncing Indigenous words, grammar, lack of storyline, and visual appeal (text, cover, artwork), but many had “no negatives”.
The third research cycle involved seven rural children rating the books during the ACCHO’s school holiday program. Five children identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. The children reviewed 14 books. Overall, they scored :) (50.0%), :| (21.4%), and :( (28.6%). Positive features included the story, topic, illustrations, and Indigenous content. Negative features were that it was “boring” and “different”.
Numerous quality Indigenous children's books exist, and the artwork, text, content, and messages are important.

Guiberson, M., & Vining, C. B. (2023). Language and literacy strategies for Indigenous children: A scoping review. Seminars in Speech and Language, 44(1), 26-41. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0042-1758802
Lowell, A. (2013). “From your own thinking you can't help us”: Intercultural collaboration to address inequities in services for Indigenous Australians in response to the World Report on Disability. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 15(1), 101–105. https://doi.org/10.3109/17549507.2012.725770
McLeod, S., Verdon, S., & Bennetts Kneebone, L. (2014). Celebrating young Indigenous Australian children's speech and language competence. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 29(2), 118–131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2013.11.003
Timms, L., Williams, C., Stokes, S. F., & Kane, R. (2014). Literacy skills of Australian Indigenous school children with and without otitis media and hearing loss. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 16(3), 327-334. https://doi.org/10.3109/17549507.2013.872296
United Nations. (2008). United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Verdon, S., & McLeod, S. (2015). Indigenous language learning and maintenance among young Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. International Journal of Early Childhood, 47(1), 153–170. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13158-015-0131-3
Webb, G. L., & Williams, C. J. (2017). Factors affecting language and literacy development in Australian Aboriginal children: Considering dialect, culture and health. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 1476718X17693417. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476718X17693417
Westby, C. (2013). Implementing recommendations of the World Report on Disability for indigenous populations. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 15(1), 96–100. https://doi.org/10.3109/17549507.2012.723749