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Our World Full of Wonder

Nov8
Our World Full of Wonder

Our World Full of Wonder

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our World Full of Wonder

Jevita Nilson

Jess Racklyeft

CSIRO Publishing, 2024

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

9781486318155

Floating in space, our world seems just a sphere of blue and green, but when you explore it, you discover there is a place where the night sky is a ballet of light; there is a place where an everlasting storm electrifies the sky; there is a place where a forest of stone creates an eerie shadow..

Our world is, indeed, full of amazing natural wonders and in this new release for younger independent readers, they are taken on a journey to just a dozen of them through the lyrical text and vibrant, come-hither illustrations.  Some like the “multi-coloured maze” where ocean creatures roam may be familiar but most will be unknown and as mysterious as their descriptions imply. Luckily, at the end there is a map and an explanation of where the journey has taken us from the North Pole (Aurora borealis,) to Australia (The Great Barrier Reef}, China (The Rainbow Mountains), Iceland (Reynisfiara Beach), back to Australia and Lake Hillier, the USA into the Sequoia National Park and half a dozen other natural phenomena, each inspiring the reader to know more and discover more about the landscapes and the landshapes of this planet. While teachers’ notes suggest ways to use the book in the classroom, it opens up all sorts of possibilities to research those places already identified or to add some extra pages of other features such as the dazzling blue flames that stream down mountains, the rainbow trees in a forest of green, or even the mud pools that boil like huge puddles of porridge, delving in to all sorts of science, geography, and history.

This is another awe-inspiring publication from CSIRO Publishing that encourages our young people to know more about their planet so they are more likely to protect and preserve it and it will be joined by a companion  Our World of Wild Wonders in early 2025 that has a focus on the creatures that inhabit it. 

The Secret Garden Rewilded

Aug25
The Secret Garden Rewilded

The Secret Garden Rewilded

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Secret Garden Rewilded

Anthea Simmons

Andersen Press, 2024

176pp., pbk.,  RRP $A16.99

9781839134203

In 1911, young readers were taken into the world of the imperious, emotionally-deprived Mary, animal-whisperer Dickon, and the apparently-doomed Colin as their lives gradually changed as they discovered the delights of nature, the beauty of the outdoors and the power of friendship in The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.  Orphaned in India and sent to live with an unknown, disinterested uncle at Misselthwaite Manor on the seemingly endless and desolate Yorkshire Moors, Mary is angry, rude and dislikes everything about her new life, where she lives and those around her and is not afraid to show those emotions.  But things gradually begin to change when a robin seems to show her the secret to a garden that has been locked and abandoned for ten years after the death of her uncle’s wife…

Fast forward nearly 125 years, and Anthea Simmons has “rewilded” the story to the modern era.  Again the main character,  Mia, has been orphaned when her physically and emotionally distant, thrilled-seeking parents are killed in a helicopter crash and she is whisked away from her boarding school (where no one is sad to see her go despite the circumstances)  to Mis Tor Manor on the edge of Dartmoor to live with her uncle and cousin Christopher. Like Mary, Mia is appalled to find herself in the remote countryside, in a freezing, crumbling manor. Grieving and missing her old life, she takes an instant dislike to Christopher, who never leaves his bedroom due to serious heart problems. And then,  little by little, Mia starts to discover the beauty of this wintry world, and befriends local boy Daniel, who loves animals and teaches her how to ride a Dartmoor pony. One day she discovers a hidden door, covered in brambles and ivy, which leads to a walled garden … A special, secret place which needs someone’s care to bring it to life once again so nature can flourish. Does her life take a turn for the better, just as Mary’s did?

Just as in the original where the three children bring the neglected garden to life, so too do Mia, Daniel and eventually Christopher, but in this modern version there is a greater emphasis on the biodiversity and interdependence of the plants and creatures it supports, not only paralleling the real-life relationships the children are experiencing, but actively making it a safe haven for all that live there, rather than just restoring it, so the theme is very relevant to today’s readers. Rewilding is an emerging concept involving  “a progressive approach to conservation. It’s about letting nature take care of itself, enabling natural processes to shape land and sea, repair damaged ecosystems and restore degraded landscapes. Through rewilding, wildlife’s natural rhythms create wilder, more biodiverse habitats” rather than the restoration of what is, perhaps, a human-driven landscape.  In Australia, the World Wildlife Fund has a number of projects whose focus is “to support strategies that test and scale-up methods that help reverse the decline of culturally important wildlife and move beyond just preventing further extinction toward our goal of Regenerating Nature by 2030.”, any of which could become an interest for the reader if there are none closer to home.  

For me, this inspired a re-reading of the original, a beautifully illustrated unabridged edition because it had been so long, and that might also be the case for today’s readers, but this is also a stand-alone read that independent readers will appreciate for its own sake, perhaps inspiring them to become further involved in the protection of the planet . 

 

Extreme Planet: Journey Through The Amazon

Jun21
Extreme Planet: Journey Through The Amazon

Extreme Planet: Journey Through The Amazon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Extreme Planet: Journey Through The Amazon

Rob Lloyd Jones

Wazza Pink

Usborne, 2024

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

9781805312185

This is a board book with just 16 pages, but in those 16 pages the reader is taken on the most remarkable journey along a river that is the world’s largest drainage system and which, because of the forests through which it flows, has been called “the lungs of the earth”. 

Through remarkable illustrations that leap off the page and a lift-the-flap format that make it interactive and thus more engaging, the reader is introduced to the Amazon’s flora and fauna in the canopy, along the river, in the jungle and on the ground as well as some of the peoples who have lived there for over 10 000 years. 

But this is not a mere travel guide and neither does it tell the entire story for there is so much more to be discovered.  Its purpose is to begin raising awareness of this remarkable, crucial landscape that is critical to the health of the planet. but as we are told, “While you’re read this book thousands more trees have been cut down [and] at this rate, the Amazon rainforest will be gone.” And so will its ability to counteract some of the pollution that is pumped into the planet’s atmosphere each day.

Part of the Extreme Planet series which includes Journey to the Earth’s Core, in which young readers are introduced to some of the amazing habitats of Earth and their inhabitants, in a way that is accessible to them through both format and text, it inspires a desire to know more as the narrative directly embraces the reader as their boots “squelch on the rotting woods and fallen leaves” and insects scurry through the gloom because so little sunlight reaches the forest floor. But beware – bright and colourful as they may be, some are deadly… Use this link to see for yourself.

A peek inside...

A peek inside…

And for those who do want to know more, there are the usual Quicklinks which are such a unique and integral part of this publisher’s presentations. Perhaps students could use what they learn and the format of the book to develop a wall display to help raise the awareness of their peers. 

One thing is for certain – by the time they have read this book, the word “Amazon” will be so much more than a large online shopping mall.  

Oceans at Night

Jun9
Oceans at Night

Oceans at Night

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oceans at Night

Vanessa Pirotta 

Cindy Lane

CSIRO Publishing, 2024

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

9781486317233

For many young readers, when they pack up the buckets, spades and surfboards and head home after a day at the beach, that’s the last they think of the ocean until they visit it again.  But as the sun sets on their day, a new world starts to come alive beneath the waves and in this stunningly illustrated book the reader is introduced to just a fraction of the nightlife that emerges when dusk and darkness fall.

And believe me, it is a world that is very different from the daytime with creatures not normally seen coming to life.  How well I remember putting my brave on and with only a cyalume stick strapped to my wrist, stepping into the inky black waters off Heron Island for my first night dive.  But it was worth the fear because the world we went into was so different from that which we had dived a few hours before, even though it was the same location.  Not only was the resident moray of the bommie out and about but my enduring memory is that of the beauty of the Spanish Dancer nudibranch swimming along, skirts dancing like a flamenco dancer, brilliant colours brought to life by the light of our sticks.

11,100+ Sea Slug Stock Photos, Pictures & Royalty-Free Images - iStock | Blue dragon sea slug, Green sea slug, Blue sea slug

As the world celebrates World Ocean Day and we have a particular focus on the environment that makes up 70% of our planet, this is an outstanding first look at those creatures who prefer dark to light – even those who never see light so deep do they live – and even includes the strange collection of plankton that, in certain conditions, turns the foaming waves blue and attracts sightseers whenever it is spotted. 

When I was a kid it was a television show called Sea Hunt starring Lloyd Bridges that sparked my desire and determination to become a scuba diver, perhaps these days it is the feats of James Cameron and his Deepsea Challenge or other movies that take viewers to depths that modern technology allows. but whatever the inspiration, it is books like this that ignite the thirst for knowledge.  Written to inform the young independent reader and encompassing creatures from little penguins returning to feed their youngsters to the almost-mythical giant squid, this is one that could begin a journey that will last a lifetime.  

Oceans of Plastic: Understanding and Solving a Pollution Problem

Jul4
Oceans of Plastic

Oceans of Plastic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oceans of Plastic:  Understanding and Solving a Pollution Problem

Tracey Gray

CSIRO Publishing, 2022

120oo., pbk., RRP $A29.99

9781486312573 

Take a look into the night sky.  If you’re lucky enough to live where there is no light pollution, as we do, you will see so many stars you will never count them.  Yet it’s now estimated that there are more pieces of plastic in the ocean than visible stars in the Milky Way!

THAT is the sort of analogy that might make the general public begin to appreciate why the movement to ban single-use plastics is gathering such momentum, but in this new book for upper primary+, readers learn how ocean systems and swirling currents bring plastics together into massive ocean garbage patches. It also uncovers the floating world of the ‘plastisphere’ – a mini community of microbes living on ocean plastics – and explains how plastic breaks up, not down, and can even end up on their dinner plate! 

But how did this revolutionary new material first invented in 1869 to free manufacturing from the constraints of natural materials and then its exponential explosion following World War II become such a problem, and why IS it a problem?

In easily-accessible text with lots of diagrams and photos, the reader is taken on a journey that covers everything from why the oceans are important, what the plastic pollution does and how we can make a difference, There are such simple, everyday changes that we can each make such as having a refillable drink bottle or nude food in our lunchboxes (as kids, our sandwiches were always wrapped in paper, not cling wrap) that collectively will make such a difference.  Now that single-use plastic bags are now banned Australia-wide with NSW finally coming on board on June 1 this year, it seems that the issue is now being recognised for the crisis it is.

This book gives our students the knowledge and understanding that they need, not only to argue with nay-sayers and justify their arguments, but also to move the changes forward.  Using the suggestions for individual change, what could be done at the school level so that our oceans have a fighting chance to keep everyone healthy? 

A must-have for any school that has the protection of the environment within its curriculum.