Marsupials Abound in Mickey and Goofy Down Under

My brother Benjamin Is in Australia right now. He’s there for a three-week visit, which has been planned for several months. In Mickey and Goofy Down Under: An Adventure in Australia, part of Disney’s Small World Library, the trip to the smallest continent is much more last-minute.

Goofy and Mickey go to Australia on a special mission: to find out why the latest shipment of eucalyptus leaves for the zoo’s koala enclosure never arrived. Now, this element of the story strikes me as pretty silly. Can’t they just call the company and ask what’s going on? And shouldn’t the company, upon realizing that their star eucalyptus collector never came back, have sent out a scouting party days ago to retrieve the adventurer (as well as the all-important leaves)? But if all that had happened, that wouldn’t have gotten Mickey and Goofy to Australia, and the Small World Library would be missing a very important volume.

The book’s plot is all about searching for the missing Dingo Dan, a rugged outdoorsy type who hasn’t been seen in a couple of weeks. But the plot is almost secondary to their exploration of the Outback. I’ve always loved the movie The Rescuers Down Under, and many of the animals featured in that animated classic put in an appearance here. Almost every page seems to introduce a new animal: kangaroo, frilled lizard, dingo, platypus… It’s a fairly short book, but readers get a strong sense of the diversity of Australia’s wildlife.

As a full-blown LOST fanatic, I also enjoyed seeing Ayers Rock, referenced in the show as Uluru. This large cliff, regarded by some as sacred, features ancient aboriginal artwork. The story itself doesn’t depict any aborigines, but the notes in the back mention them, and an illustration is included. Another site of LOST significance is Sydney, where Mickey and Goofy begin their Australian adventure. We don’t spend much time there, but the famous Sydney Opera House is prominently featured on two pages. Oddly, it isn’t identified, but then the main focus here is really on the wildlife.

Children who read this book will get a quick lesson on Australian animals, especially marsupials of various types. A boomerang also comes into play in the story, albeit mostly for comical effect, and the notes in the back mention the Great Barrier Reef and its abundance of coral. The illustrations capture all of this very effectively.

Mickey and Goofy Down Under isn’t nearly as perilous a tale as The Rescuers Down Under, but it’s a fun story that serves as a nice introduction to some basic aspects of Australia and of marsupials. For youngsters, it’s way to cultivate interest in a truly fascinating country.