Review: Peculiar Parents

Did you know some kangaroo mothers adopt orphaned joeys? Or that a baby humpback whale weighs as much as a large car when it’s born? Find these morsels and more in Peculiar Parents written by Dr Stephanie Owen Reeder and illustrated by Ingrid Bartkowiak.

Using playful text, detailed research and little-known facts, distinguished children’s author Owen Reeder brings animals’ lives to life. Topics such as choosing a mate, home selection and building, family life and parental habits are explored.

Review: Australian Geographic - World's Most Freaky

If you love animals and love being able to wow your friends with random fun facts, then Australian Geographic’s World’s Most Freaky is for you.

 
Sorted by world regions and with plenty of ‘freaky’ animal facts clearly sectioned with a photo and a small amount of text, this book allows readers to either dip in and out or devour the details from cover to cover.

The facts within are not intended to horrify, repulse or make you cringe – as the title word ‘freaky’ may imply – but rather to intrigue, fascinate and elicit the ‘wow – no way!’ factor. The whole point is to open your eyes to the uniqueness and tenacity of nature, with a side dose of awareness, so we can all step towards conserving these beautiful creatures for generations to come.

 

Review: Australian Geographic - World's Most Extreme

Would you rather be a capybara and stay underwater for up to five minutes or a bee hummingbird and fly backwards with incredible precision?

From the moment I picked up Australian Geographic: World's Most Extreme, I was hooked. This is the kind of non-fiction title that invites readers to dive straight in and explore.

Several features immediately caught my attention. The title sparked my curiosity, the textured cover added another layer of appeal, and the animal-print endpapers had me smiling before I even turned the first page.

The format makes this book highly accessible for readers of all ages. Each continent is explored, allowing readers to travel the world and discover fascinating creatures. Clear headings help readers navigate the text, while intriguing subheadings encourage them to keep reading. Fast fact inserts provide bite-sized information, and the stunning photographs bring every page to life.

For educators, this book offers countless opportunities for classroom learning. It provides a wonderful springboard for geographical investigations as learners explore where animals live around the world and compare continents, environments and ecosystems. The fascinating facts and measurements throughout the book create authentic opportunities for mathematical thinking as learners compare, estimate and order sizes, speeds and weights.

Science lessons can be enriched through investigations into living things, adaptations, habitats and the remarkable features that help animals survive in their environments. The stunning photographs also make this a valuable resource for art, encouraging learners to examine colour, texture, scale, composition and the power of photography to tell a story.

One of the strengths of this title is its ability to spark wonder. Readers will find themselves sharing facts, asking questions and making connections long after they close the book.

This is one title in a series, and I can confidently say I need every single one on my shelf.

Highly recommended for classrooms, libraries and curious readers who love discovering the incredible world around them.

Title: Australian Geographic -World's Most Extreme
Creator: Australian Geographic
Publisher: Hardie Grant Children's Publishing
Publication Date: 28 April, 2026
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 9781761218064
For ages: 6+
Type: Junior Non-fiction

Review: Green Cities: How Green Infrastructure Helps Heal the Planet

Green Cities: How Green Infrastructure Helps Heal the Planet, a book by Sheila Boudreau and Katy Dockrill, is an introductory exploration of nature in the urban environment, emphasising the importance of green spaces and green infrastructure.

It’s got a modern, yet retro feel, and is filled with bright illustrations, colourful text boxes, and lots of green to match the theme. The design uses plenty of subheadings and every turn of a page offers visual elements. 

It starts by looking at the history of cities and how city planning can be transformed and improved by working with biodiversity and even creating a walkable city. It also considers the impact of climate change and the way building cities can contribute greenhouse gases, heat islands, and the risk of water pollution.

Review: Robot Responders

Another great title from CSIRO Publishing that many young readers will find it absorbing and exciting. While there is so much shrieking about AI – and yes, it is quite justified in many instances e.g. stealing the work of creators – yet, there is so much more to AI and robotics that is of huge benefit to us all.

This book showcases the many ways robots of all kinds, as employed by the CSIRO team, are helping us all in a multitude of ways. In addition, it takes readers through a journey of robot development which many will find amazing.

It could be iRat [intelligent rat animat technology) which with its complex capabilities is helping scientists understand the mysterious workings of the human brain as well determining such things as navigation – how animals including human learn to find their way.

12 Curly Questions with children's author Dr Niraj Lal

1. Tell us something hardly anyone knows about you.

I really like rainbows. I have this special diffraction-grating film that makes rainbows when the sun shines through it, and I’ve got it up on the windows at home and it shines rainbows all through the house. I track the summer and winter solstices with them – I’m obsessed.

2. What is your nickname?
Nij

3. What is your greatest fear?
Becoming too enmeshed in our rapidly-spinning consumption economy that makes us all want to work more and buy more – but have less time to properly live and be human.

Review: False versus Facts

In a world where misinformation is rife, False versus Facts is an excellent reminder that we should look for the evidence behind statements to understand what’s factual and what’s false. 

This book is packed with facts and myths. Do you know which is which?

From facts about the earth, humans and science, to animals, history and food, False versus Facts puts the spotlight on information and confirms what’s real and what’s not. 

False versus Facts is carefully designed with succinct information, bright ‘fact’ and ‘false’ embellishments, and simple, stylised illustrations.

Review: Exploring the Elements - A Complete Guide to the Periodic Table

This book – and its companion books (see below) are like the perfect day for me. With caramel on top. The joy they bring me – I can't even.

The thing about this stunning series is that it is intensely comprehensive yet served in bite-sized pieces... an intellectual smorgasbord that keeps you coming back for more.

In Exploring the Elements, my periodic table fangirl side entered overdrive. Earth's elements are a regular fascination but this deep dive, sans too-boggling jargon, will cram young heads with wows. 

Review: The World From Here

Milo lies on the grass gazing at the clouds and sees shapes and animals. Maya looks out the window of a plane and sees the blue sky and clouds and a patchwork-quilt-like landscape below.

Continuing from these vantage points, we are taken on a journey filled with ponderings and interesting facts all about the wonder of the natural world, including how the weather makes us feel, along with mindfulness and calming strategies.

Review: Sharks Up Close

Did you know the word ‘shark’ is thought to have come from the Dutch word for ‘villain’ or ‘scoundrel’? Hearing about shark attacks off different parts of our coastline this definition matches what many believe.

But sharks are central for the health of our marine ecosystem and are becoming endangered through human behaviours and climatic change.

Sharks Up Close provides a balance between the non-fiction text and visually rich photographs to stimulate interest in these much maligned animals and highlights the role they play in ocean life. 

Review: Blue: Dragon of the Sea

Aleesah Darlison has a deft hand when writing books about wildlife and, as she is herself passionate about critters of all kinds, shapes and sizes, that comes as no surprise.

Little Blue is a nudibranch and if you’ve never heard of them, seen them or even read about them before, why not check them out because this book is bound to spark much interest with your little people. After all, you will want to be the font of all knowledge for them when they start wanting to know more! 

These super-colourful shell-less sea slugs are often referred to as ‘sparkly sea cupcakes’ which is a pretty cute description and with over 3000 varieties with an emphasis on varieties - such a range of colours, shapes and features, it’s pretty appropriate.

Review: Up, Up and Away: The History of Aviation

Those interested in the history, mythology and legends surrounding aviation will be impressed by this publication; this journey through aviation. 

 Presented in immense detail, the contents will delight and fascinate both children and older people. 

Stunning front, end papers depict the sizes of the flying machines, featured together with their length and wingspan, beginning from the largest to the smallest.

Review: This Bird: Noticing Our Urban Birds

‘Oooooo … doo-doo-doo-whipp!’

‘Pew pew.’

That's the call of an eastern whipbird, one of the many wonderful birds I hear living in the Blue Mountains in NSW. 

Also full of vibrant native birds is a new book called, This Bird: Noticing Our Urban Birds, created to help identify and celebrate birds in our backyards, local parks and streets. 

This Bird is written and illustrated by Astred Hicks in collaboration with Dr Holly Parsons, an ecologist and community educator. The book is a stunning way to connect with nature and be in the present moment.

Review: An A-Z of Ocean Creatures

How many ocean creatures can you name? How many could you recognise?

Your knowledge will increase exponentially when you read An A-Z of Ocean Creatures.

This is another beautiful creation by Myke Mollard, packed with stunning, detailed illustrations in full colour.  

A different letter of the alphabet features across pages, each with a list of creatures, and an underwater picture featuring them. 

The names of some of the creatures may surprise or amuse you.

Review: Britannica All New Children's Encyclopedia: What We Know & What We Don't

Britannica All New Children's Encyclopedia: What We Know & What We Don't is divided into eight chapters and packed with facts and figures.

Did you know that more than 99.9% of species that have ever existed are not extinct?

Have you ever heard of a quark (part of a proton)?  

This is the perfect browsable encyclopedia, presented with numerous diagrams, timelines, illustrations, and infographics that give it significant visual appeal.

It covers a broad range of subjects, from the endless skies of the universe, and the wonder of the earth, to the human body, ancient history, and the potential of new and emerging technology.

Review: Between

Anna Walker is one of those acclaimed and awarded author/illustrators that makes me so very glad to be alive. And I understand she’s from my home-town of Melbourne, so we down south can also take great pleasure in claiming her!

Between is a beautiful offering, recognised and described by Scribble founder and publisher Miriam Rosenbloom thus:

‘It’s a book about difference – but also about empathy, care, the instinct to connect, and the ongoing impact that people have on our lives…

A reminder that beautiful things are still being made with time, heart and intention.’

A cricket and a cabbage moth are living their short lives, doing their daily things, and we the reader are invited into the spaces between them. And also, into their separate worlds and realities, which ultimately collide.

This book is poetry, texture, warmth and heaven all in one. The wording is sparse and definitive. Deliberate, yet expansive.

And the hand-rendered illustrations are extraordinary. Each page brings a new artistic sensibility. A limited colour palette and balance between tight and loose, spatter and stroke, softness and texture, definition and shadow, strength and vulnerability – all contribute to the wonder and delight of this book.

It is absolutely one to become lost in and pore over, whatever your age.

I can see it being the perfect gift for all. For a student setting off into the wider world, a grandparent creating space with less things and more time, a small child with their insatiable curiosity and love of wonder.

Quite simply, it’s sublime.

Title: Between 

Author/Illustrator: Anna Walker
Publisher: Scribble, $24.99
Publication Date: 30 September 2025
Format: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781761381591
For Ages: 3+
Type: Picture Book

Review: Ningaloo: Australia

This non-fiction picture book is itself a ‘wild wonder.’

Ningaloo – Australia’s Wild Wonder looks at the extraordinary natural phenomenon of  land and sea known as Ningaloo, and celebrates both the awe-inspiring and quiet things that make this place unique.

Penned by Australia’s beloved Tim Winton and accompanied by 100s of gorgeous, hand-painted illustrations by Cindy Lane, it’s a veritable treasure trove of surprise and information.

From itty bitty blind fish that live deep in the murky depths, to massive whale sharks in the glossy blue sea, Ningaloo features more than 50 species of aquatic and terrestrial animals and plants.

Review: Hello Cocky: A Stickybeak At The Cockatoo

A funny, original rhyming book that celebrates an Australian icon with vigor, humour and a wild, bold outlook.

From treetops to rooftops, follow Australia’s most mischievous bird in this exuberant celebration of the cockatoo. 

It’s truly wonderful as a reader, to be in such capable hands.

I loved everything about this book, from the unusual format (it’s rather tall, reminiscent of a cockatoo stretching itself longways to get a good look at you or steal your chips), to the delight and playfulness of the clever language.

The rhyme is sophisticated and funny. Dangerous and angular. It’s fun to read, and there are peaks and troughs to travel with absolutely no doubt that you’re in safe hands. 

Review: Hedgehog Or Echidna? Animals Who Are The Same … But Different!

Dozens of cuter than cute echidnas troop across the endpapers of Ashleigh Barton’s latest picture book with one adorbs noticeable exception. No spoilers here but the clue to this character is in the title. 

Without further preamble, the two spiky critters meet, head-to-head in the first spread of this curious clash of comparisons.

One is surrounded by flowering gums and kookaburras. Clearly an Aussie original. The other is nestled in a forest of fungi and European song birds. 

They look alarmingly similar yet obviously different. Does this stand in their way of friendship? Most definitely not!

Review: Wind Atlas: Everything You Need To Know About The Wind

As a kid, the wind unnerved me. Wild, unpredictable, displacing. As an adult, the wind is still my least favourite weather phenomena but along the way to learning to sail and gaining a better understanding of meteorology, my appreciation of ‘wind’ is now more discriminating.

Wind Atlas, the third in the amazing weather series by Thames & Hudson, consolidates that appreciation and then some. 

Like its predecessors, Wave Atlas and Cloud Atlas, this guide into the world’s fascinating zones of pressure and air movements is both refreshingly informative while simultaneously easy to assimilate.