Storytelling Session - Possum Magic by Mem Fox

A Little Bit of History

Once upon a time - to be more specific, in 1983 - Australian children's book author Mem Fox published Possum Magic, the story that launched her writing career.

When her daughter Chloe was seven, Fox decided to take a children's literature course because of Chloe's love of reading. For one of the assignments, Fox wrote a story named Hush the Invisible Mouse. Her professor encouraged her to publish it, and it was illustrated by Julie Vivas, a student in the art department. It was rejected nine times over five years before Omnibus Books accepted it, but asked her to rewrite it more lyrically, cut two-thirds of the story, and change the mice to possums (Gilles, 2000).

Possum Magic is now considered a classic of Australian children's literature. In 2014, it topped the Australian Booksellers Association list of 50 Favorite Kids' Books (Bogle, 2014). It is also Australia's best-selling children's book with almost 5 million copies sold as of 2017 (Nan Chauncy Award 2017, 2017).

I came across this book is July 2025 while preparing for a class about Australian animals. I found the story quite interesting. It follows two possums: Grandma Poss and a young female possum named Hush. One day Grandma Poss makes Hush invisible, which is fun at first until Hush realizes she wants to see herself again. But Grandma Poss has forgotten how to make Hush visible but remembers it has something to do with "people food". So, the two possums hop on a bicycle and travel across Australia searching for the right foods to make Hush visible again.

I never imagined my four-year-old students would fall in love with this story to such extent that we have read it at least ten times over the last four months.

Age and Level Recommendations

When selecting a book for a class, the first question is often about the suitable age range. However, the answer is rarely straightforward. Children begin learning a language at different ages, and even within a group of the same age, their abilities can vary widely.

The reading session I designed was tailored for my specific class of 4- to 5-year-olds, who have been learning English with daily exposure for two years. Since they cannot yet read independently, I read all books to them. Therefore, the crucial factor for my class was ensuring they could understand the content by listening and looking at the pictures.

If you wish to use a book like Possum Magic, the key is to carefully consider your own students' language familiarity. You must decide whether any vocabulary needs to be pre-taught, which parts of the text should be simplified or left as they are, and how the activities can be adjusted to their level.

The magic of picture books is that their rich visuals and narrative make them adaptable for a wide range of English proficiency levels, and they can be a valuable resource even for adult foreign language learners (Cheetham, 2015). And while I would recommend this particular book for Pre-A1 to B1 English levels, it can be easily used by higher levels as well. After all, I enjoyed that book as much as my students.

Reasoning Behind Choosing This Book

I have already mentioned how much my students liked reading the book, and in the end, they are the main judges. However, what were my reasons for choosing this book in the first place? They were simple: it is a wonderful story about magic and adventure, with colorful illustrations that support the text and aid comprehension, and the main characters are animals – something all children love to read about.

Mem Fox, the author of Possum Magic

However, if we look deeper and consult the literature, we can find a more academic explanation for why Possum Magic works. In their handbook, Ellis and Brewster list several criteria for choosing a book, including language level, literary devices, content/subject matter, illustrations/layout, educational potential, motivation, values, global issues, and language/content (2014, p. 19). Let’s go through these criteria and analyze the book accordingly.

• Language level: Overall, the book uses language that is easy to understand. Some parts may be challenging depending on the learners’ level, but they can be understood through context.
• Literary devices: The story uses rhyme, rhythm, and repetition, all of which support comprehension.
• Content/subject matter: The story revolves around animals and magic and addresses universal themes such as family, adventure, and belonging, making it highly engaging.
• Illustrations/layout: Julie Vivas’s illustrations are bright, expressive, and detailed, providing strong visual support for the text.
• Educational potential: The story can be used to support learning about geography, food, and animals, and to develop learning strategies such as predicting, sequencing, and comparing.
• Motivation: The story contains humor, magic, and interesting characters that capture students’ interest.
• Values: The book promotes family bonds, kindness, and perseverance.
• Global issues: It introduces readers to Australian wildlife, food, and landmarks, fostering intercultural awareness.
• Language/content: The book is deeply rooted in Australian life, which means some elements may be difficult for young readers to understand. While native Australian animals are relatively easy to learn about, some features – such as traditional foods and place names – may be too culturally specific. This highlights the importance of identifying potentially challenging vocabulary and deciding whether to pre-teach it, omit it, or replace it with more familiar terms.

Choosing Activities

In the case of my students, they had no prior knowledge of Australia. This meant they were unfamiliar with all the native animals mentioned in the book (eight in total, one of which only appears in the illustrations), the foods (seven unfamiliar items), and the cities or places (eight references). Pre-teaching all of this content would not have been practical. Since the foods and locations were not essential to understanding the plot, I decided to focus on teaching my students about Australian animals during the pre-reading stage.

Most sources suggest splitting a reading session into three stages: before-reading, during-reading, and after-reading activities (Ellis & Brewster, 2014; Ellis & Mourão, 2021; Graves & Fitzgerald, 2003; Hempel, 2015). Different authors use different names for these stages, so to avoid confusion I will refer to them as pre-reading, during-reading, and post-reading activities.

One effective reading strategy is scaffolded reading, described by Graves and Fitzgerald (2003), which means providing students with tools to make the reading experience successful. One of their suggestions is to build background knowledge. For my pre-reading activities, I decided to introduce Australian animals (9 in total, platypus was added to the list due to the fact that it’s a very common Australian animal) through a YouTube video, discuss interesting features of the animals, and use games – such as a puzzle game and a “What’s Missing?” game – to familiarize students with them.

When we start reading, the first thing children see is the cover. Ellis and Mourão noted that the cover is an essential part of any book (2021). Goga and Pujol-Valls also used cover discussion as the first step in their literature conversation research (2020). The cover serves as a perfect lead into the story itself. Given how visually appealing the cover of Possum Magic is, it offers an ideal entry point to discuss what students see and what they think the book might be about, transitioning smoothly into during-reading activities.

Asking questions during reading is one of the main during-reading activities. Questions activate background knowledge, help children notice details, make predictions, and think more deeply about the story (Ellis & Mourão, 2021). Another useful activity is re-reading. As Ellis and Mourão pointed out, “... the interaction around a picturebook read-aloud will never be the same, even if you are sharing the same picturebook with the same group of children” (2021, p. 24). But should we ask different questions each time we re-read? Recently, I watched a webinar by Katherine Bilsborough in which she suggested that repeating questions can be quite beneficial – it helps students revise vocabulary and builds confidence because they become familiar with the answers and can gradually expand on them with each retelling (National Geographic Learning – ELT, 2021). Therefore, I recommend not being afraid to ask the same questions when re-reading a book; this can make students more confident speakers.

Considering that some learners may not actively participate in conversations, Hempel (2015) suggests providing non-verbal during-reading activities. Following this advice, I chose an activity where students sequence the animals in the order they appear in the story.

Post-reading activities can link the book to other areas of the curriculum and help develop additional skills (Ellis & Mourão, 2021). They can also encourage creativity and allow children to express their own ideas (Ellis & Brewster, 2014), or include discussions (Graves & Fitzgerald, 2003). These three principles guided my choice of post-reading activities: creating Australian Aboriginal dot painting (which raises intercultural awareness, develops fine motor skills, and allows for creative expression) and discussing what magical abilities Australian animals could have (possibly combined with a drawing activity). Another idea is to use an AI text-to-image tool to create pictures of superpowered animals. This idea was inspired by Li Ding who suggested that this type of activity encourages the use of descriptive language, promotes creative and critical thinking, and provides joyful engagement (2024).

Descriptions of Activities

As Ellis and Brewster mention in their handbook, a storybook can be integrated into the curriculum to support a language course and can also serve as the base for developing a short basic syllabus (2014).

I have decided to divide the activities I previously selected into two one-hour lessons. This serves as an example of how a book can supplement an English language course.

Note: All the printable materials mentioned in the lesson descriptions were designed by the author and are available on Google Drive.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Irrwx-copQTu-yRlUldI3kZsoXx8s3Ai?usp=sharing

Lesson 1

Pre-Reading (20 minutes)

Introduction to Australian Animals

Aims:

l  To introduce common Australian animals

l To build basic knowledge and curiosity by learning one simple, interesting fact about each animal

Materials:

l  YouTube videos

l  Interesting Facts - List

Description:

Watch a short YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QoOpf3Gt9w) that introduces the main Australian animals. As the suggested video does not include the kookaburra, follow it by watching a second video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jW7A2glZbk) that features the kookaburra's famous laugh – a fun sound for the children to hear. After watching, share some interesting facts about the animals from the provided list (one for each animal would be enough for now).

Puzzle Game

Aims:

l  To recognize and name key Australian animals from visual clues

l  To practice speaking and using new animal vocabulary

l  To develop memory, matching, and prediction skills

Materials:

l  Australian Animals - Puzzle Game Cards

Description:

Prepare by cutting the animal puzzle cards vertically into halves. Place the right-side halves on the board with the picture facing away (face down) and write the numbers 1-9 on their backs.

To play, randomly pick one of the left-half cards and show it to the class. Ask the children to name the animal if they can (e.g., "It's a kangaroo!"). Then, ask a student to choose a number (1-9). Flip over that right-side half to see if the two pieces match and complete the animal. Continue until all the animal halves have been correctly paired.

Example of the puzzle game

This activity is excellent for memory recall and vocabulary practice. It is also fun because sometimes two halves of different animals are put together, creating funny-looking combinations!

During-Reading (20 minutes)

First Reading

Aims:

l  To introduce the characters

l  To recognize and name some Australian animals

l  To develop prediction and sequencing skills

l  To practice detailed observation and visual literacy

Materials:

l  Book

Description:

Begin by showing students the book cover. Ask: “What animals do you see on the cover?” “What do you think this book is about?” “Do you know what magic is?” If students are unfamiliar with the concept of ‘magic’, perform a simple trick (like making an object “disappear” by hiding it behind your back) to spark their interest.

Introduce the main characters: Grandma Poss and Hush.

As you read, ask students what animal they can see. When Grandma Poss uses magic on other animals, pause to ask if students remember the animals' real appearances: “What color is a wombat?” “What color is a kookaburra?” “How big is an emu?”

When Hush disappears, ask students to look at the picture and name the order in which her body parts vanish: first her tail, then her body, and finally her head: “Oh no! What part of her is gone now? First, her ...? Then, her ...? Last, her ...?”

After Hush becomes invisible, ask students to try and spot her outline on the following pages: “Can you still find Hush?”

“Why do you think Hush is hiding from the snake?”, “What does the snake want to do?”

There is a turning point in the story where Hush decides she wants to be visible again. Ask students whether Hush can see her reflection in the water and what would they feel if they couldn’t see themselves. “Can Hush see herself in the water?”, “What do you see when you look in the water?”, “What would you feel if you couldn't see your own reflection?” 

Point at the books: “Why Grandma Poss is looking in books?”, “How many books does she have? Let’s count together!” 

Help students observe the facial expression and body language: “Now, look at Hush and Grandma Poss? Do they look happy? Why? What should they do next?” 

After Grandma Poss remembers that food is the answer, ask students to give their suggestions: “What food do you think could help Hush?” 

As we see them hop on a bicycle, ask students where they think our characters are going. 

As Grandma Poss and Hush travel, you may simplify the culturally specific names of cities and foods.

For the three key foods (Vegemite sandwich, pavlova, lamington), you might substitute them with more familiar items like a sandwich, ice cream, and cake.

When Hush starts to reappear, cover the illustration and ask: “They are eating a sandwich now?” Do you think it will help Hush become visible?”

Continue with “Which part of her will we see first?”

“This food made her tail visible! What food should they try next?”

Keep going with this structure for the second and third body parts.

At the end of the story, when the animals have a party, ask: “Which animal was not invited?” (the snake) and discuss possible reasons why: “Why do you think the snake is not there?”

It is not necessary to ask all prepared questions during the first storytelling. The most effective questions are often prediction questions (e.g., "What should they do next?"), as students do not yet know the plot, which makes these questions genuinely engaging.

Be mindful of balance. Pausing too frequently to ask questions can interrupt the narrative flow and turn an enjoyable read-aloud into a boring survey. 

After finishing the book, conclude with a discussion question: “Would you like to be invisible? Why or why not?  What could be fun about it? What could be scary?” This would be excellent for personal engagement and speaking practice.

Post-Reading (20 minutes)

Aboriginal Dot Art

Aims:

l  To reinforce the names and recognition of Australian animals

l  To develop intercultural awareness through traditional art

Materials:

l  Dot Art - Animal Cutouts

l  Color Paper A3

l  Scissors (one pair for each student)

l  Glue Stick (one for each student)

l  Paint (different colors)

l  Cotton Swabs (Q-Tips) (one for each student)

Description:

Briefly explain that dot painting is a very old and important art style used by Aboriginal Australians to tell stories about the land and animals. Print the "Dot Art - Animal Cutouts" on colored paper. Ask each student to choose one animal card and carefully cut it out along the lines.

Example of the animal cutouts printed on color paper

Next, have students glue their animal cutout onto a larger piece of paper (about 2–3 cm bigger on each side than the cutout). Provide paint and cotton swabs (Q-tips) for students to decorate their animal and the background using a traditional dot-painting technique.

Note: Demonstrate how to do the activity before asking your students to do it.

Example of Aboriginal Dot Art (on the left) and the artwork of my students (on the right)

Lesson 2

Pre-Reading (20 minutes)

Review of Australian Animals

Aims:

l  To consolidate key vocabulary

l  To deepen conceptual understanding of the story's animals

Materials:

l  Interesting Facts - List

Description:

Review the Australian animals using flashcards and share the rest of the facts from the list. Make it fun and active – try to act out some animal actions if possible (jump like a kangaroo, laugh like a kookaburra, dig like a wombat, sleep like a koala). Make connections to familiar things; for example, a baby joey is as small as a grape, and a wombat’s poop is shaped like the blocks you play with in class.

What’s Missing?

Aims:

l  To practice rapid recall and recognition of the Australian animal vocabulary

l  To develop focused observation and short-term memory skills

Materials:

l  The Australian Animals – Flashcards

Description:

Stick the animal cards on the board. Ask students to close their eyes. Remove an item from the board. Students open their eyes and tell you what is missing. This game can also be played by two teams as a competition – which team can name a missing card faster. Each time a student is correct, their team wins a point.

During-Reading (20 minutes)

Second Reading

Aims:

l  To reinforce and actively recall key story vocabulary

l  To develop visual literacy and observation skills

l  To deepen comprehension by shifting focus from prediction to literal recall and analysis of the known plot

l  To practice collaborative learning by discussing sequencing choices

Materials:

l  Book

l  Sequencing Sheet (one for each student)

l  Pens/Crayons/Pencils (one for each student)

Description:

As I mentioned earlier, repeating questions across readings is beneficial. It helps with memory recall and allows students to answer with greater confidence and detail. For a second reading, you can shift the focus more toward observation and literal comprehension (e.g., "How many books does she have?", "What is Hush's expression?"). Prediction questions remain valuable, as students can now use recalling strategies to make informed guesses, deepening their understanding of the story sequence.

For this second reading, I have added a sequencing activity. Before reading, provide students with sequencing sheets and explain that they will need to pay attention to the order in which the pictured animals appear in the story, marking them with numbers 1-8. After the reading, discuss the results to see if there are any differences in answers.

Alternatively, you can explain the task and distribute the sequencing sheets after the reading is complete. These two approaches serve different purposes: conducting the activity during the reading focuses on observation and noticing, while doing it after focuses on memory recall.

If conducted as a post-reading activity, you can also divide students into small groups to discuss their ideas before presenting their conclusions to the class.

Sequencing Sheet

Post-Reading (20 minutes)

Animals with Superpowers

Aims:

l  Reinforce and personalize vocabulary

l  Develop creative and critical thinking

Materials:

l  Paper (optional)

l  Pens/Crayons/Pencils (optional)

l  Computer/tablet with internet access (optional)

Description:

For this activity, I wanted to connect the topic of Australian animals with the theme of magic. I chose an activity where students imagine a special superpower for an Australian animal.

Here, the earlier mentioned Pre-Reading activity of sharing interesting animal facts can provide useful inspiration. For example, a kangaroo might have the superpower to jump over a tall building, a wombat could dig massive burrows in a second, or a kookaburra's laugh might be strong enough to break windows. Children are usually very imaginative, so given the chance, they can come up with amazing ideas.

After discussing and sharing their thoughts, students can draw their superpowered animal. Alternatively, they could use an AI image generator (like https://gemini.google.com or https://grok.com) to create pictures based on their prompts. Since AI-generated images rarely match our imagination perfectly on the first try, refining the prompts encourages students to think critically and use a wide range of vocabulary to improve their results.

Note: It is not necessary for students to provide full prompts themselves, as they may not yet be capable of structuring grammatically correct sentences. Instead, they can express their ideas using individual words or short phrases. The teacher can then combine these concepts into a coherent text prompt for the AI image generator. This allows every child to contribute creatively while ensuring the activity remains focused and achievable.

AI-generated Superpowered Animals (through gemini.google.com)

Book Recommendation

If you wish to incorporate more stories about Australian animals into your teaching, I have two books to recommend: Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French and The Koala Who Could by Rachel Bright. Both were thoroughly enjoyable reads. My students love them and frequently ask to hear the stories again.

Final Thoughts

To wrap up, my final recommendation is this: don't forget to make reading fun and engaging. Use your body, gestures, and voice to bring stories to life and create a reading experience that children will love. Your read-aloud time can help build a lifelong love of reading through emotional connection. And remember to enjoy yourself – if the teacher finds a lesson interesting, the students will, too.

"There’s no right way of reading aloud, 

other than to try to be as lively as possible. 

Each of us will have our own special way of doing it."

                                                            Mem Fox, 2025

Additional Resources:

Mem Fox’s website: https://memfox.au/

Mem Fox Book Reading Possum Magic and more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80gjXsuS-M8

Aboriginal Dot Painting: https://japingkaaboriginalart.com/articles/aboriginal-dot-painting/

References:

Arnold, J. (Ed.). (1999). Affect in language learning. Cambridge University Press.

Bogle, D. (2014, August 8). Australia’s 50 favourite children’s books — words of magic to brighten kids’ lives. TheAdvertiser (Adelaide). Retrieved December 7, 2025, from https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/entertainment/arts/australias-50-favourite-childrens-books-words-of-magic-to-brighten-kids-lives/news-story/b3e268e06202253b84572700f833cd9e

Cheetham, D. (2015). Extensive Reading of Children’s Literature in First, Second, and Foreign Language Vocabulary Acquisition. Children’s Literature in English Language Education (CLELE Journal), 3(2), 1–23. https://clelejournal.org/extensive-reading-of-childrens-literature-and-vocabulary-acquisition-cheetham/

Ding, L. (2024). Integrating Drama and AI for Teaching Picturebooks in ELT. Children’s Literature in English Language Education (CLELE Journal), 12(1), 97–114. https://clelejournal.org/article-5-li-ding/

Ellis, G., & Brewster, J. (2014). Tell it Again!: The Storytelling Handbook for Primary English Language Teachers. British Council, 6-7. https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/pub_D467_Storytelling_handbook_FINAL_web.pdf

Ellis, G., & Mourão, S. (2021). Demystifying the read-aloud. English Teaching Professional, (136), 22-25. https://pepelt21.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/ellis-mourao-2021-etp.pdf

Gilles, C. (2000). Talking about Books: “Mem’s the Word”: Examining the Writing of Mem Fox. Language Arts, 77(3), 250–257. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41483060

Goga, N., & Pujol-Valls, M. (2020). Ecocritical Engagement with Picturebook through Literature Conversations about Beatrice Alemagne’s On a Magical Do-Nothing Day. Sustainability, 12(18), 7653. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12187653

Graves, M. F., & Fitzgerald, J. (2003). Scaffolding reading experiences for multilingual classrooms. In G. Garcia (Ed.), English learners: Reaching the highest level of English literacy (pp. 96-124). International Reading Association. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280558258_Scaffolding_reading_experiences_for_multilingual_classrooms

Hempel, M. (2015). A Picture (Book) is Worth a Thousand Words: Picture Books in the EFL Primary Classroom. In W. Delanoy, M. Eisenmann, & F. Matz (Eds.), Learning with Literature in the EFL Classroom (pp. 69-84). Peter Lang Edition.

Fox, M. (2025, August 18). How to read aloud Well — Mem Fox. Mem Fox. https://memfox.au/advice/how-to-read-aloud-well

Nan Chauncy Award 2017. (2017, August 29). Children’s Book Council of Australia. Retrieved December 7, 2025, from https://readingtime.cbca.org.au/nan-chauncy-award-2017/

National Geographic Learning - ELT. (2021, February 25). Tight On Time: tips for teaching the four skills in every young learner lesson [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxaSznIdPKU