Find Me in the Forest

Find Me in the Forest

Jess McGeachin

Lothian Children’s, 2026

40pp., hbk., RRP $A29.99

9780734423849

The word “forest” conjures up many mental images depending on where you live. Perhaps you envisage the towering trees, mossy canopies, and unique ferns of New Zealand’s far southwest; the weathered, stumpy snow gums of Australia’s high country; the steamy rainforests of tropical regions; evergreen pine forests rising from the snow-covered ground or maybe the tall trees whispering wisha-wisha-wisha of Blyton’s Enchanted Wood.

Whichever picture appears on the screen of your mind, the importance of forests and their inhabitants to the health of the planet is critical, and in this beautifully illustrated new release from Jess McGeachin, the reader is invited on a one-day walk through the world’s various types of forests to discover not just the infinite variety of plants that form them, but some of the myriad of creatures that call them home.

Covering about a third of Earth’s land surfaces, forests are classified according to their location – tropical, temperate or boreal – and within those are different types again, depending on their weather patterns. In Australia, most forests are classified as “dry” consisting primarily of eucalypt trees, although a small percentage are the drought-tolerant acacia and mulga forests of the arid regions and an even smaller amount are classified as “rainforest”, such as those of the Daintree and Tasmania.

But regardless of their type or location, on their walk through the forests, young readers are introduced to some of the things they might see if they take the time to look and listen, and how those creatures have adapted to the environment they live in. Whether it’s the creatures high in the canopies of the tropical rainforests, where bright colours can either be an invitation to mate or a warning of a poisonous end, or caribou sniffing out lichen beneath the snows of the far north to eat, or our own native fauna fleeing the flames of a bushfire, the diversity becomes apparent and whets the appetite to find out more -and protect it. With his usual eye for detail, meticulous illustrations, including fold-out pages, and accessible text, McGeachin has created a book which encourages the reader to think about what might survive and thrive in the bush near them, and how they do it, bringing the big picture into a more manageable sphere. As well, by taking them around the world, beyond that immediate, familiar environment, he is building knowledge and understanding that will serve them well as their reading horizons expand. Suddenly, those inhabitants of the woods and forests of stories set in the northern hemisphere become more recognisable and understood.

As well as being a companion to Find Me on the Coast, this has a significant place alongside others such as Who Makes a Forest?, Walking in Gagudju Country: Exploring the Monsoon Forest, Look, See, Find Me, even In the Kelp Forest , Peppa visits the Australian Rainforest, and Once I was a Giant as young readers become more aware of the planet, its environments and its need for protection.

Protecting the Planet: Creatures of the Coral Reef

Apr22

Protecting the Planet: Creatures of the Coral Reef

Protecting the Planet: Creatures of the Coral Reef

Martin Jenkins

Jason Cockcroft

Walker Books, 2026

32pp., pbk., RRP $A16.99

9781529516289

Imagine you’re a butterflyfish. Where do you live? It’s a place that’s warm all year round, not too deep and full of life: it’s a coral reef!

If you live or visit Australia’s coast, one of the longest in the world, chances are it is protected by a reef whether it’s the Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest coral reef system, the Great Southern Reef a fringe of interconnected underwater systems that span 8000km from the NSW/Queensland border, around Tasmania and its islands, along our great southern coastline and up to Kalbarri in Western Australia., Ningaloo on the north-western coastline or any of the other systems that dot the shoreline and encircle the continent.

While each has its own ecosystem perhaps it is the colourful inhabitants of the coral reefs that first spring to mind, and in the new addition to the Protecting the Planet series which includes Ice Journey of the Polar Bear, The Season of Giraffes, Emperor of the Ice, and The Secret World of Seahorses, young readers are introduced to how such reefs are formed, the creatures that are dependent on their survival and how they are dealing with the challenges of climate change and other factors that threaten their survival. They learn about the amazing biodiversity of the reef and the interdependence of each species, as well as how vulnerable each is and what even an individual can do to help it survive and thrive.

Protecting the Planet: Creatures of the Coral Reef is one of a list that Publishers Weekly have put together a list of children’s picture books that encourage children to explore the world around them and consider how to care for it to acknowledge Earth Day today, and although most on that list are US publications, Australian authors, illustrators and publishers have produced a plethora of books on this theme, including those about the reefs that surround Australia, it could be an opportunity for STUDENTS to search the shelves for stories that reflect their personal interest in the environment to create a library display, Apart from enhancing their skills at using the OPAC, if they are also required to read the book and write a synopsis of its central message so others can make informed choices about borrowing it then there is purpose for both the display and their reading.

On this blog alone there are over 450 titles with the Environment and Sustainability tag so there are plenty for even our youngest readers to begin to explore and think about what they can do to make a difference. Perhaps a class might even adopt a particular project giving the whole task even greater context and purpose.

Once I was a Giant

Mar24

Once I was a Giant

Once I was a Giant

Zeno Sworder

Thames & Hudson, 2025

48pp., hbk., RRP $A29.99

9781760764913

It’s just an everyday tool we take for granted, use and discard when it is of no use.

But even the storyteller’s pencil has a story to tell – and the night the storyteller runs out of his own words and it seems to be a long-term affliction – the little stub of a pencil says a small ‘hello’ and then the storyteller again has a story to tell. Of beginning as a small sapling in a forest, shimmering green, filling the world with life, watching the stars and dreaming. Of a mysterious wanderer who visits regularly and tells it it will be a giant and watches as his words come true. As they do – until the days the machines come… And the giant is no longer, but rather stretched across a myriad of items, including being the little painted pencil who wishes it could grow again…

Creator Zeno Sworder says that this unique story was inspired by his childhood love for a tree, and that through it he wants to “bring trees alive for young people by telling an imaginative story rooted in recent scientific discoveries about the social lives of trees and their abilities to communicate, learn and feel” because ‘trees make all of our lives possible but they are often absent from stories because we tend to only care and feel for characters that are like us ” and at a time when “we all tumble towards an increasingly digital, atomised and urbanised world I wanted to make a story about the natural world that touches on ideas of interdependence, metamorphosis and impermanence.” It is also shaped by his Daoist belief that every living things “holds an essence, a mystery that cannot be measured or counted or sorted” and that we are enfolded and sustained by the natural world.

And from such big-picture, philosophical beliefs he has created a story of wonder and imagination that helps even our youngest readers start to grasp the concept of the interdependence of Mother Nature as they begin to understand the connections between a habitat and its inhabitants; while older readers begin to appreciate why humans have a need “to stop and smell the roses”.

Visually stunning opening with a picture on a high-rise building with only one light burning – perhaps symbolising that of all the stories that could be told by the things that carry the tree’s DNA, there is but one who can share their shared history, it begins with a prologue that sets the reader up for what is to come- a rarity in a picture book and perhaps a point of discussion for those learning about literary devices – and spans some big ideas like interdependence, symbiosis, death, regeneration, renewal and hope but all within a context that brings them into the child’s world of understanding. From being the child who climbed the tree, sat in its branches, hugged its bark and sought solace in its silence, Sworder has become the tree and is telling its story from the other side of the memories. And in a fitting tribute to both tree and pencil who have given him so much over time, he knows just what he has to do next.

Reviewed by many, and a CBCA Notable Picture Book of the Year for 2026 – perhaps shortlisted, and, IMO a winner – this is a remarkable book that has so many layers that it spans many age groups, and has the potential to change our thinking as we examine our own connections, both human and not, and perhaps start to think about the stories that have brought us all to this one place at this time. For those wanting to take the journey further, there are some outstanding, wide-ranging teachers’ notes written by the author.

All About Antarctica

Oct25

All About Antarctica

All About Antarctica

Marc Martin

Penguin, 2025

44pp., hbk. RRP $A24.99

9781761047411

As Australia’s days warm up and it seems summer has come early to many places, a trip to Antarctica seems like an inviting prospect, particularly as the Australian Antarctic Program is recruiting right now.

But is this place of ice caves and ice towers, mountain ranges and bottomless crevasses, freezing temperatures and bitter winds really a place you want to visit?

In this “travel guide” that begins with a general overview of the southernmost continent, and covers a host of topics spanning research to relaxation the reader is introduced to all sorts of aspects of life that might spark young imaginations and set ambitions and aspirations in motion – just as the ships heading south from Bluff, New Zealand did 80-odd years ago for my mum, who eventually became the first female journalist to go South in 1968 on the Magga Dan, the first tourist expedition.

Dorothy Braxton – Scott’s Memorial Cross, Observation Hill, Antarctica, 1968

With many illustrations accompanied by a short explanation, each double-page spread has a particular focus offering insight into the landscape, the life and living in such a hostile environment including the unique requirements for going to the toilet so the pristine environment is protected. Nothing is left behind.

A peek inside…

The whole is as rich in information as the continent is in fascination and shows that there is so much more that ice and penguins, including the extraordinary cooperation and collaboration of the 57 countries who are signatories to the Antarctic Treaty achieving something that seems impossible anywhere else on the planet.

One that deserves a place in the 998 collection because of the breadth of its content and which is likely to spark deeper investigation as well as dreams.

Prayer for a River

Oct13

Prayer for a River

Prayer for a River

Uncle Glenn Loughrey & Andrew Kelly

Wild Dog, 2025

32pp., hbk., RRP $A24.99

9781742036915

River brings life.
River brings us together.
River holds the stories.

In what seems like a deceptively simple text, this is a homage to one of Mother Nature’s most complex stories.

Beginning with a shower of rain whose drops are captured and savoured by the land, joining to eventually form a river that flows from the mountains to the sea, bringing life to all it touches, spilling into the ocean where the sun helps the cycle repeat itself over and over, the reader is not only reminded of that natural cycle but also how the river is the lifeblood of the land, how it connects all living things and deserves both appreciation and respect.

While both authors have deep, personal connections to Birrrung/Yarra , Kelly having been its Riverkeeper for many years, this is the story of any river and how it connects and carries the stories of Country between and beyond its banks, its strength growing as it does and its importance depicted in the addition of colour to the illustrations as it brings life to all that it touches moving from the “simple” image of drops falling and gathering of the front cover to a landscape that it is flourishing because of its influence and impact.

From this initial introduction to the importance of water and rivers to life itself, expressed in a way that even the youngest readers will understand from both the First Nations and the modern perspective, comes the implication that our waterways need to be protected, thus opening up the perfect opportunity to investigate local creeks and rivers, how they connect and support the land and its living, and what is being done to ensure they continue to run free and pristine. Teachers’ notes facilitate the sorts of questions that could be explored.

As the alpine snows melt after what has been described as a “bumper season”, and the creeks and rivers start to swell and flow with vigour again, this is the perfect timing for sharing this book and focusing on your local waterway, its origins and destination, regardless of what point of its journey you live. Perhaps even have students seek local citizen science projects to be involved in (or begin one)and create a display that introduces other stories in a similar vein such as Rivertime by Trace Balla, On the River by Roland Harvey, Song of the River by Joy Cowley, and Wilam, another jointly authored by Andrew Kelly, so that the inevitable annual study of the water cycle becomes more personal and meaningful.

Something special and unique that offers so much more than it first appears.

The legendary Snowy River – its journeys, its stories…

Animals on Country

Sep3

Animals on Country

Animals on Country

Victor Steffensen

Sandra Steffensen

A & U Children’s , 2025

32pp., hbk., RRP $A24.99

9781761181566

‘For thousands of years, Aboriginal people looked after the land to keep it healthy, so there was plenty of food for the animals to eat. But today, the animals are wondering what has happened to the people. Trees have been cut down, land has been cleared and rivers have been polluted.”

As our children become more aware of both the natural environment surrounding them as well as the relationship that our First Nations peoples have with Country, this book is ideal for helping them understand that relationship better as the family join Uncle Kuu on a walk through the bush to learn more about what lives there and how his ancestors cared for them. From learning to identify particular animal tracks to understanding the special bond between a person and their totem to how the land was kept healthy by only taking enough to eat and only at certain times, while always being respectful of all the flora and fauna, it provides an insight into why it is important to do so as well as encouraging readers to start thinking along the same lines.

With accessible text in a large font and exquisite pictures and even including the lyrics and music to a song, this brother and sister duo have created something special that is not only going to deepen the readers’ knowledge of that special connection between First Nations peoples and their Country, but also encourage them to respect the natural world in a similar way regardless of their heritage, perhaps even beginning to consider the interdependence of the creatures and their surrounds as well as how human life is dependent of a healthy, sustained, thriving natural environment. What might they do to promote these links even within the school playground or their own backyard?

A peek inside…

One Koala, One Hundred Trees

Sep1

One Koala, One Hundred Trees

One Koala, One Hundred Trees

Leesa Allinson

Heather Potter & Mark Jackson

Wild Dog, 2025

40pp., hbk., RRP $A24.99

9781742036854

When she and her Dad find an injured koala on our property, her heart breaks especially when .Wildlife Rescue tells us she might not survive. Determined to stop it happening again, she sets in place a plan that will take a long time to come to fruition but will be worth all the work in the long run…

Sadly, the koala which is as recognised as being Australian as the kangaroo, is officially listed as endangered in Queensland, New South Wales, and the Australian Capital Territory, mostly because of habitat loss caused by both Nature and humans,. Since non-Indigenous settlement in Australia, 80 per cent of the Koala’s natural habitat has been destroyed and much of the remaining 20 per cent occurs on privately owned land and so this story is not only a wake-up call but also offers something practical that can be done to help the species not only survive but thrive.

On September 1st, 2021 the Australian Koala Foundation announced their Koala Kiss Project which aims “to create an uninterrupted koala habitat conservation corridor from southern Victoria all the way to North Queensland by linking intact sections of koala habitat separated by cleared land called ‘kiss points'”. While most of our young readers will not live on acreage like the family in the story, nevertheless there are still ways they can get involved – even purchasing this book means they are helping to raise funds for the Foundation so they can support those who do have the space. And for those who do, basic information about koalas and how to begin, maintain and manage part of this contiguous tree line is provided.

In 2018, the Koala Habitat Atlas which maps the entire habitat range of the species.. was finally completed identifying those ‘kiss points’ which are to be the targets of future regeneration of the landscape and restoration of unbroken Koala habitat across its entire range.

The Koala Kiss Project

Thus, as well as being a story that in a gentle way that will resonate with young readers without distressing them, -rather it offers hope for the koala for the future – it opens up a whole world of discovery about this iconic creature. Teachers’ notes offer suggestions for exploring both the book and the species further, perhaps sparking even further investigation if the astute adult asks, “Now that we know this, what can we do about what we have learned?”

The Australian Koala Foundation’s motto is “No Tree – No Me; and this certainly reinforces that message!

Team it with John Williamson’s Koala Koala and there’s the start of a plan for the 2026 Book Week theme A Symphony of Stories.

The NSW government has announced the proposed boundary of what could become the state’s largest national park on the mid north coast.

Find Me on the Coast

Aug3

Find Me on the Coast

Find Me on the Coast

Jess McGeachin

Lothian Children’s, 2025

40pp., hbk., RRP $A29.99

9780734423634

‘Let’s walk down a winding path to where the sand meets the sea’

Is there anything more calming and relaxing than taking a walk along the beach, as the waves lap your toes like the planet’s heartbeat, the breeze brings in the clean, fresh air of vast emptiness, seagulls rise as one to wheel overhead and every now and then you stoop to examine something more closely – tracks, seaweed, a child’s path tracked by a trailing stick…

Coasts wrap around all the land on Earth, and depending where and what they are, each offers untold treasures from Mother Nature, just waiting to be explored, wondered and marvelled at, whether they are salt marshes, coral reefs, rocky shores, mangrove forests, kelp forests, or seagrass meadows. The time of day also makes a difference – do you jump as hungry waves bury your footsteps as the tide comes in, or do you bed over and create stories in your head about what is playing out in the rockpools left as it recedes?

Queen of all I could see…

As one who grew up with the beach across the road as my playground, investigating the hidden treasures that the tide left behind on the sand and in the rockpools has absorbed much of my life and this new release from Jess McGeachin who is so well known for creating books that draw you back again and again because there is always something new to discover, is treasure indeed.

From sunrise to sunset the reader is taken on a journey that takes them around the world’s different coastlines to discover just what calls each home, both plants and animals. With his usual eye for detail, meticulous illustrations, including fold-out pages, and accessible text, McGeachin has created a book which encourages the reader to think about what might survive and thrive on the coast near them, and how they do it, bringing the big picture into a more manageable sphere., while also introducing them to different sorts of biomes where completely different species have grown and adapted. Maybe it’s the curlew with its long bill perfect for seeking out its own treasure in the sand or the lizards that hide on the tangled branches of the mangrove; the tiny fish that dart through the rockpool or the carefully camouflaged octopus lying in wait for them, there is so much to discover making the nest trip to the beach for the reader so much more than a splash in the waves and building a sandcastle.

The good news is that this is Jess McGeachin opening up the world for our young readers to explore, understand and protect; the better news is that it is just the first in this new series…

See Inside Wild Places

Jul24

See Inside Wild Places

See Inside Wild Places

Laura Cowan

Rong Phanm & Vinh Nguyen

Usborne. 2025

16pp., board book., RRP $A19.99

9781805315551

We know that the world is made of many diverse habitats and biomes, but that doesn’t mean they are necessarily benign. For within them there are wild places providing homes to all sorts of dangerous and deadly creatures that have adapted to their environment while posing a great threat to those around them, including humans.

Whether it’s the jungle environment of the Sundarbans that straddle the coasts of India and Bangladesh, the toxic waters of the lakes of Central Africa, the sandy stretches of the Great Victoria Desert here in Australia or another of the ten places featured in this new release from Usborne, readers are challenged to lift the flap to see what lies beneath. Whether it’s an innocent looking worm attracting a bird on the deadly island of Queimada Grande, also known as Snake Island; the hostile northern reaches of North America where caribou annually make the longest land journey of any animal on the planet,; or daytime in the impenetrable forests of Uganda, this is one that is going to appeal to those who like to live on the edge with their reading, who prefer non fiction and discovering the secrets of their world.

This year’s CBCA Book Week theme is Book an Adventure and many have created displays inviting young readers to venture into the jungle, under the ocean, or to explore some other exotic place but there will be few who are expecting to have quite such an adventure as this, particularly as all the characters in this one are real!

But as well as knowing that, its interactive format and eye-catching illustrations, this is another one for those who don’t think that the Book Week theme (or, indeed books) has anything to offer that will entice them into the library. Who among those who prefer non fiction, particularly that which explores the wacky and the weird of this planet, could resist journeying to these extraordinary places, perhaps even sparking further investigations of place or inhabitant, maybe even inspiring a bucket-list item? And if what’s on offer in the limited space of a double-spread, then there are the usual Quicklinks to take the explorations further.

Another winner from Usborne.

A peek inside…

Volcano

May19

Volcano

Volcano

Claire Saxby

Jess Racklyeft

A & U Children’s, 2025

28pp., hbk., RRP $A24.99

9781761180644

In The Boundless Deep the first part of his classic novel, Hawaii, James A. Michener crafts the most picturesque, detailed description of the formation of the island as far below the ocean the Earth’s surface ruptures and its innards spew out. It is a masterpiece of writing, one that has stayed with me since I first read it in 1969 during Port Moresby’s seemingly endless wet season – and I still have that original copy!

Now, in language just as arresting but much simpler and thus accessible to our younger readers, and accompanied by the stunning illustrations of Jess Racklyeft, master narrator Claire Saxby brings a similar event to life in her new release, Volcano.

Deep in the ocean, far beyond the reach of even the brightest sun, the earth quakes.

Hagfish scatter and snailfish flutter.

Lava pillows flash and fade, rumpling the seabed as a new volcano births a mountain…

Through words and pictures – that include incredible double double-page spreads – the young reader can witness the invisible until it not only becomes visible, but inhabited as new life begins, underscoring the interdependence and symbiosis of land, sea and sky and the wonder that is so much more than startling, eye-catching pictures on a television newsclip.

When it comes to capturing children’s imaginations and curiosity, creating a volcano is one of the go-to experiments that always evokes wonder, and this book with its dramatic cover is sure to attract attention. But it is the continuation of the story after the initial eruption, the explanation of chemosynthesis, where chemicals create food energy, far beyond the reach of light in ecosystems around hydrothermal vents, and how tiny bacteria and other minute creatures form to drift away as the chimneys grow and cool and both carry and become food for others that sets this apart.

Like that first rumble under the seabed, this book grows and grows, providing the ideal platform and introduction to the earth sciences for the curious mind. It is an ideal addition to that collection that explores and explains the formation of the planet and the life which inhabits it that includes

Our Country: Ancient Wonders

BANG! The Story of How Life on Earth Began

Australian Backyard Naturalist

Earth is Big

We are One: How the World Adds Up

Australian Backyard Explorer

The History of Everywhere

The Amazing Meals of Martha Maloney

A Hundred Thousand Welcomes

Atlas of Amazing Migrations

Ouch! Tales of Gravity

The Same But Different

Evolution

On the Origin of the Species

Who Makes an Ocean?

How We Came to Be: Surprising Sea Creatures

Green: The Story of Plant Life on our Planet

Cosmic Wonder

How We Came to Be; Creatures of Camouflage and Mimicry

About 300 miles off the coast of Oregon, an underwater volcano appears to be rumbling to life. Scientists who have been monitoring the vast submarine volcano for decades say a flurry of recent activity — including an uptick in earthquakes in the vicinity, and swelling of the structure itself — signals that it’s ready to erupt. Current forecasts project that the volcano, known as Axial Seamount, could erupt anytime between now and the end of the year, according to Bill Chadwick, a volcanologist and research professor at Oregon State University. Click here to watch a video of the possibilities. Videos, including livestream, of the volcano, are available from Ocean Observatories

Listen to Claire Saxby talk about the book on the ABC Science Show.

Livestream the latest eruption of Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano…

The Bottom Shelf

Great books for little people

Archives

Find Me in the Forest

Protecting the Planet: Creatures of the Coral Reef

Once I was a Giant

All About Antarctica

Prayer for a River

Animals on Country

One Koala, One Hundred Trees

Find Me on the Coast

See Inside Wild Places

Volcano

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