After a quick education about Australia’s inland ocean we are introduced to our main character, a Pterosaur named Ferrodraco. Her name, taken from the most complete pterosaur fossil found in Australia means ‘iron dragon’. A clever addition seamlessly weaved into the story.
Did you know that like bees, there's a hierarchy in the dung beetle community?
Dung Beetle on a Roll is written and illustrated by Sandra Servergnini. It's a narrative non-fiction exploration of the dung beetle world.
It explains what dung is and why dung beetles love it. Detailed, realistic illustrations help expose some of the minutiae of life as a dung beetle, from rollers to tunnellers to dwellers.
With thoughtful reverence to the passing of time and acknowledgment of the evolution of humanity, new picture book team, Yvonne Mes and Syliva Morris, introduce young readers to the fascinating realm of Palaeontology and beyond.
The dawn of insects is estimated at 410 million years. The oldest insect-like fossil was discovered in 1919.
Stunning and superbly presented, Insectopia: The Wonderful World of Insects is compiled of forty-seven, double-spread entries, with incredibly beautiful, full-page illustrations. Pavla Dvorska must be complimented, as her entire work adds elegance to the book.
‘In the oldest rainforest on Earth, on the oldest
continent, a seed falls to the ground.’
With its
tactile, mixed media illustration style that has a particularly Daintree colour
palette and gorgeous loose yet flowing sensibility, there are pages upon pages of
incredible images and words to pore over and enjoy.
Travelling
through the Daintree from 200 years ago to the present day, we watch a Bull
Kauri pine tree grow up from being a tiny seed cone on the floor of the bush.
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Native bee hives in particular, although cute and accessible and now featuring in many a backyard, are equally enigmatic as access is often restricted to hive splitting rather than honey collection.
All reasons why, Megan Daley’s first foray into the magical world of picture book creation with, The Beehive is such a good fit for the Nature Storybooks series by Walker Books Australia.
Fun, informative and factful, The Beehive is
a true deep dive into the world of the Native Stingless Bee, of which there are
around 2000 varieties in Australia? Well, I never.
Where Are All the Christmas Beetles? is a narrative non-fiction book that explores the small, mysterious creature that is the Christmas beetle. Did you know they're unique to Australia?
Written in rhyme, Where Are All the Christmas Beetles? will take you through the beetle's life cycle, and make sure you understand the difference between Christmas beetles and other beetles (chafer, dung, stag, and lawn beetles).
Alight: A Story of Fire and Nature is a new book from CSIRO Publishing which explores how plants are 'reminded' to regenerate, and how animals look after themselves in times of fire.
We're all familiar with the result of unplanned bushfires. However, planned fire management of the bush is also crucial to the continuing of a natural life cycle. This book is a minimally-confronting exploration of it.
Paul Kelly is one of Australia's best known musical storytellers, and one of his recent creations shares the story of Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja.
The song has been transformed into a picture book called Khawaja, with words by Paul Kelly and illustrations by Avinash Weerasekera.
Khawaja tells the story of how cricket was Usman's favourite game as a boy, and how he watched and played it, dreaming of a future playing for his country.
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Thank you to ALL who entered.
We need to talk
about Bedtime Story. Like, we really need to talk about it: in small
clusters around the water cooler, when we pick up the children from school, while
we cycle down city streets and as we kayak raging rivers. Okay, maybe not that
last one.
But still - we
do need to talk about it.
Chloe Hooper’s
husband has been diagnosed with an aggressive, life-threatening illness and her
children are quite small, just 3 and 6. So, she asks an important and timeless
question – How do we talk to children about death in a way that leaves them
loving life?
You'll learn about how penguins hunt to feed their family, and spend days at a time away from them to find the food.
You'll also find out how penguins find a mate and build a home.
One of the most interesting things you'll discover is how well penguins can adapt. In this story, they do this when humans change the penguins' environment.
One penguin sees the potential of a new breakwater built near the penguins' hunting grounds.
It's nearly time for those underground minibeasts to tunnel their way to
the surface: cicadas! Last year, in 2020, we had a glut of cicadas here in the Blue Mountains. We found countless shells. We spotted many species. We heard the deafening buzz of cicada songs.
Award-winning children's author and journalist, Catherine Bauer joins us to celebrate a little-known Aussie legend, Len Waters.
Our lucky winner is...Enjoy!
Thank you to ALL who entered. We literally had entries from all over Australia and animal encounters from around the globe! Well done everyone.
However, to give emerging creators and self-publishers a chance, we will be opening our review policy for ONE MONTH—to accept unsolicited review submissions from new, self-published or very small (Indie) publishers.