In the Kelp Forest by Aunty Patsy Cameron and Reena Balding illustrated by Belinda Casey

Kelp are large brown seaweeds, a type of algae that are distinctive because they form forests. Common kelps in Australian waters include bull kelp, golden kelp, crayweed and giant kelp. Just like forests on land, a kelp forest shelters and feeds other plant life and animals.

Publisher blurb: A stunning picture book that explores the beauty and strength of Country beneath the waves and celebrates the living kelp forests, their creatures, and deep Cultural knowledge of Tasmania’s First Nations people. Kelp forests have intricate lives and play a key role in the balance of our oceans and seas. Myerlee, the giant kelp, sways beneath the waves, her forests alive with creatures that make her their home. Myerlee lives with the elements, shelters life, provides sustenance to those on the land and in the ocean and whispers her secrets to those who will listen.

Huge thanks to Magabala Books for sharing Into the Kelp Forest with me (Published April 7th, 2026).

IBBY and UNESCO are currently compiling a list of books that honour and celebrate indigenous languages from around the world. IBBY Australia will send a list of potential titles and I expect to see a display of these books at the IBBY Congress in Ottawa this year. In the Kelp Forest is a perfect example of a text with integrated Indigenous words and beautiful art and it will be eligible for submission with the next (second) selection round. Along the way you readin this book and your library group or young reading companion are sure to learn so much more about kelp and in this book you will also discover indigenous words for sea snails, sea urchins, crayfish, mussels, abalone and the sea horse (patterleenner in Coastal plans language). In the Kelp Forest is a book you should add to your library and then share it with your teachers so the class can discover more about this amazing underwater environment. 

As a way to find more books on this topic and for background reading take a look at these two posts from my friend at Kinderbookswitheverything:

4th June 2025 Seaweed Day

1st March 2025 World Seagrass Day

The crew of Backroads (ABC Television) visit the kelp forests of Tasmania (4 minutes). And Nature Conservancy have some further information and photos.

Read more here from Jeannie Baker about her book

You can see nine pages from this book here.

Kelp is used as food for animals and humans, for products such as toothpaste, ice cream and shampoo but climate change, global warming and pollution mean that huge areas of kelp forest have disappeared. Kep also provides shelter for animals such as trumpeter fish, crayfish and seahorses. 

Aunty Patsy Cameron grew up on Flinders Island and can trace her Aboriginal heritage through her mother’s line to four Ancestral grandmothers ... Patsy has a Master of Arts in Tasmanian Aboriginal History and an Honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Tasmania. She was inducted onto the Tasmanian Women’s Honour roll in 2006 and was invested with an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2017 for distinguished service to Indigenous communities in Tasmania. Her first picture book, with Lisa Kennedy, was Sea Country, also published by Magabala Books.

Belinda Casey is a proud great granddaughter of legendary Tasmanian Aboriginal woman, Fanny Smith, whose traditional homeland is Tebrakunna Country in North Eastern Trouwerner/Tasmania. Belinda graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honours from the School of Creative Arts, University of Tasmania in 2018 and was a finalist in both the 2025 John Glover Art Prize and the 2022 Hadley’s Art Prize. Belinda’s art practice honours the legacy of her ancestral grandmother and the strength and resilience of the Tasmanian Aboriginal people, their culture and connection to Country.