Masters of Disguise

Marc Martin

Puffin, 2021

56pp., hbk., RRP $A26.99

9781760895891

Subtitles “Camouflaging Creatures & Magnificent Mimics” this book explores the unique and impressive techniques that animals have for staying out of sight. Some change their colours and patterns to blend in with their environment, while others try to look like sticks or flowers – one even wears a cloak of algae.  even though they each use a different approach, each is dependent on their unique surroundings to make the camouflage work. 

Spanning the globe, including the stick insects (phasmids) of Australia, all sorts of habitats which have creatures hiding in plain sight are explored.  Using a minimum of text to introduce the creature and its special features, the reader is then challenged to find it in a double-page spread that captures both the flora and fauna that it lives in, not always an easy task. 

Young readers beginning to explore the wider world of Mother Nature will be fascinated by this book and it is one that those boys who seem to need to gather around one book and explore it together will thoroughly enjoy.