Higher Ground by Tull Suwannakit

You will need to set aside some time to read this intriguing book. The story begins with an enormous flood. Two children and their grandmother (and pet rabbit) are left stranded. No one is coming to help but the grandmother has years of wisdom and she knows how to use their scarce supplies to survive. She shows the children how to plant seeds to grow food, how to gather water, build a shelter, how to catch and prepare fish, how to use fire for cooking and warmth and most of all she gives the children hope. For nearly 200 days the group survive but the grandmother is growing frail. We watch the seasons change and we see their daily activities through a series of wordless spreads. Eventually the children decide to build a raft. This is the part that broke my heart - the children set off to find other people and they leave their grandmother behind. She tells the children she cannot make the journey, she needs to stay behind and tend their garden but they should know she will always be with them in their hearts.

I expect to see this book listed for many 2026 awards - and it is sure to be a CBCA (Children's Book Council of Australia) notable in the Younger Readers category. The presentation of this book is just beautiful - hardcover and with a very appealing size and book design. 

Publisher blurb: After a great flood swallows their city, a wise grandmother, her two grandchildren, and their pet rabbit find themselves stranded on the only safe place left—the rooftop of their home. With nothing but their small garden and a handful of supplies, they must learn to survive in a world where the familiar streets have turned to endless water. Days turn into weeks, and weeks into months, as they face hunger, storms, and the uncertainty of what lies beyond the horizon. But through each hardship, the grandmother shares words of wisdom, teaching her grandchildren the power of resilience, kindness, and hope. As their garden grows, so too does their belief that even in the darkest times, life finds a way forward. Higher Ground serves as both a warning and a call to action for future generations, urging readers to honor and protect the environment before it’s too late. Told through beautifully illustrated panels, this dystopian middle-grade graphic novel is a powerful meditation on survival, family, and the delicate balance between humanity and nature.

Here are some brief teachers notes from the publisher. 

It is my hope that Higher Ground will encourage young readers to reflect on their own connections to nature, the importance of family values, and the fragile world around them. In a world that is constantly changing, these qualities are more important than ever. Perhaps the story’s central themes of hope, growth and resilience, could offer readers a meaningful outlook to a more empathetic world we live in. Tull Suwannakit (Federation of Children's Book Groups)

I am not a fan of endorsements (as you may know) but there are some interesting names here:

Image source: Tull Suwannakit

Tull Suwannakit talks about his work here. 

Higher Ground is highly visual, with 14 short chapters, and plenty of light and shade in both story and pictures, making it difficult to ascribe to an ideal reader. It is pitched for ages 5+, but this is the sort of immersive, cross-genre, layered storytelling that will captivate readers of many ages, in many different ways. Storylinks

Here is a detailed and insightful interview with Joy Lawn at Paperbark Words. Here is a review from The Bottom Shelf. 

Embracing such themes as home, belonging, loss, grief, refugees, self-sufficiency and the consequences of climate change, this is a book that deserves to be widely read at home and in classrooms. Red Reading Hub

In this age of global warming and climate change books there are many books now that explore the consequences of catastrophic flooding. 

Please try to find this book to read after (or before) High Ground. 

Water, Water

And for older readers I highly recommend this book:

Across the Risen Sea

Other books I have talked about here by Tull Suwannakit:

Happy Hoppy Home

Heart and Soul

Except Antarctica! by Todd Sturgell

You need to add this book to your school library. It is a perfect text for all your science units about animals, animal classification and habitats plus it is SO funny. The only question you might have to ask yourself is just where to shelve this book? Is it just a picture book about a crazy turtle who sets out to disprove the theory that turtles live on every continent except antarctica? Well yes. Turtle gathers all his friends, who also apparently do not live in Antarctica, and the team set off to check this out for themselves. So far this could just be a funny romp, a story, but the final pages - eight of them - are filled with animal facts - like a non-fiction book. Oh, and the end papers are world maps and a useful map of Antarctica showing all the research stations.

The swiftly rising, maniacal tone is highlighted by different, boldfaced types assigned to the narrator and the animals. Vivid, wildly imaginative illustrations add wonder and excitement to the proceedings. Readers will laugh out loud at the animals’ recalcitrance and the narrator’s frustrations, all the while absorbing a great deal of information. Delightful and hilarious. Kirkus Star review

This nature-documentary-gone-wrong is a gleefully funny lesson in determination, and includes educational backmatter and lots of animal fun facts! Penguin Books

Now think about the animals that travel with our hero - an owl, a dung beetle, a snake, a mouse, a bee, and a frog. Yes nearly every animal group is covered - birds, insects, reptiles, mammals, and amphibians. Only one group is missing - can your readers work this out and then can they talk about why.

Here are a few fun facts from the final pages in this book:

• The oldest turtle in the world lived to be 255 and was named Adwaita.
• Burrowing owls love to eat dung beetles.
• Dung beetles navigate using the Milky Way.
• Snakes smell with their tongues.
• Bees love the colour blue.
• Mice eat fifteen to twenty times a day.
• Frogs were the first land animals with vocal cords.

Except Antarctica was published in 2021. It is still available and I found a copy for a good price but you might need to act quickly because I imagine their stock might be limited. Here are a set of teaching ideas from the publisher. 

This book is also an example of breaking the fourth wall - you will hear the voice of the off stage narrator trying to advise the turtle his mission is impossible. 

Here are some companion books:

Todd Sturgell is an illustrator, author, and freelance art & creative director. In his previous career as a corporate advertising art director, he worked with national brands including The Home Depot, Hyundai, Red Lobster, and 7-11; in his current role, he focuses on local and regional clients including universities, museums, and music, food, arts, and wine festivals. He lives, hikes, draws, and watches nature documentaries in the North Carolina Mountains with his wife, daughters, and dog Max (named for a certain famous picture book character). He has not yet been to Antarctica.

Melt by Ele Fountain

Firstly if you visit or work in a school library where they use genre labels or genre as a way to shelve their fiction titles then I have no idea where you will find Melt. It is a survival story; it is a thriller; there are themes of global warming; it is also about forming new friendships; and I guess this book could also have a label of crime fiction.

Bea's father is a geologist. He works for various petroleum companies looking for, and reporting on, sites with oil reserves around the world. The problem is some of the places on our planet should not be exploited - they should be left as pristine environments but oil companies are driven by profit and not environmental concerns. So in part this book raises the issues surrounding exploitation of the Arctic circle which is home to the Inuit people. 

Bea and her family have moved to yet another new town because her father's work takes them around the world. This means Bea has to navigate yet another school and sadly in this one there are some vicious bullies. Luckily her father announces he needs to fly north in a small company plane to get an over view of the Arctic landscape and Bea will be allowed to go too. Her father has been teaching her how to fly but the pair are keeping this information a secret from Bea's mother. The first flight goes well but over the following weeks Bea senses something is wrong with her dad. He seems distracted and distant. Finally he announces they can fly north again but this time something goes horribly wrong. When they arrive at the remote and tiny Northern airport, Bea watches in horror as her father is beaten up by two men. She races back to the small plane and flies away.

Meanwhile Yutu lives with his grandmother in a small isolated Arctic village. Yutu longs to test his own independence and head away hunting on his own. He convinces a friend to loan his snowmobile, he tells his grandmother he will stay the night with a friend and then he sets off. On his second day the weather turns nasty, the snowmobile crashes and Yutu's life is hanging in the balance.

The scene is set for Bea and Yutu to meet, to help each other, and to solve the mystery of the kidnapping of Bea's father and importantly to discover the way all of this is connected to oil exploration in the arctic. 

I enjoyed the use of alternating voices in the early chapters of this book. I also enjoyed learning more about customs and food of the Inuit people especially through Yutu's gentle grandmother. 

The environmental message never overwhelms but simply runs through the plot and ensures that the adventure itself has greater impact. It is an exciting read with some perilous moments that will keep young readers gripped. A Library Lady

Here is a review by a reader aged 11 and here is a review with more plot details. Thanks to Beachside Bookshop for my advance reader copy of Melt. Here is the web site for Ele Fountain.

Publisher blurb: A boy lives in a remote, snow-bound village with his elderly grandmother. Their traditional way of life is threatened by the changing snow and ice: it melts faster every year. When the sea-ice collapses while he is out hunting, he only just escapes with his life and is left stranded in the Arctic tundra. Meanwhile a girl is trying to adapt to another new school. Her father promises his new job at an oil company will mean they never have to move again, but not long after he starts, his behaviour becomes odd and secretive. When their fates take a drastic turn the girl’s world collides with the boy’s and they find themselves together in a desperate search for survival, and for the truth.

Companion reads:

The Last Bear

Swimming Against the Storm

The Last Bear by Hannah Gold illustrated by Levi Pinfold

April and her father move to Bear Island. In the past there were polar bears on the island as the name implies but with global warming all of the bears have long ago disappeared. The nearest land is 400km away and there are no longer any ice flows so polar bears cannot come to the island. 

Wait a minute. I said there were no polar bears on Bear Island but you can, of course, see from the cover, that there is a bear on Bear Island. April and her father are alone in this remote place. Her scientist father is busy with his task of measuring weather conditions and so April is left to wander around the island on her own. Her father is quite a distant figure because he is carrying so much grief over the death, some years ago, of his wife and April's mother.

April does indeed find the last polar bear. He is in bad shape and starving. It is at this point the story becomes slightly fantastical as we watch April befriend the bear, feed the bear, roar with the bear and even allow him to lick her face! The biggest issue for April, after she discovers the reality of global warming and the consequences for her new friend, is how to return Bear to Svalbard where there are many other polar bears.

The Last Bear is a heartwarming story of friendship, determination, kindness, animal human relationships, healing and courage. I think it will be enjoyed by readers aged 9+ especially children who love animals and who care about our planet. It would be terrific to begin reading this book on 27th February which is International Polar Bear Day.

Polar Bears International 

The Last Bear is a debut novel for Hannah Gold. This book will be published next week on 17th February. Thanks goes to Beachside Bookshop for my Advance Reader copy.

Beautifully illustrated by Levi Pinfold, The Last Bear invites readers to care about the science behind the fate of an endangered species and to believe in one girl’s magical solution to the problem. Julia Eccleshare Love Reading 4 Kids

My advance copy of The Last Bear did not contain the illustrations by Levi Pinfold. They do look quite spectacular.

This moving story will win the hearts of children the world over and show them that no one is too young or insignificant to make a difference. The Last Bear is a celebration of the love between a child and an animal, a battle cry for our world and an irresistible adventure with a heart as big as a bear’s. Tring Book Festival

After reading or during your reading of this book you will want to find other books about Polar Bears in your school library.  Here are many worth finding collected by my friend at Kinderbookboard and the blog  Kinderbookswitheverything.

You might also look for Seekers The quest begins by Erin Hunter.

I have added this one to my "to read" list. I adore the art of Jackie Morris:

Mousenet by Prudence Breitrose illustrated by Stephanie Yue

I thoroughly enjoy books where the author creates and maintains an alternate reality.  I love discovering all the little inventions and strategies he or she develops so that as a reader I can believe something so entirely I start to wonder if it might in fact even be true,  Mousenet is a perfect example of this.  Think of Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, The Borrowers, Masterpiece and Tumtum and Nutmeg.

Megan helps her uncle invent a tiny computer which she then names a Thumbtop.  What Megan does not realise is she is being watched - by mice!  The Mouse Nation immediately realise this tiny computer will revolutionize the lives of all mice.  Unknown to humans mice have evolved and they can now use computers and some have even been trained to speak to humans.

Here is a detailed review by Jen Robinson.  My blogger friend Mr K has also written an excellent review.

Here is a picture to show you how mice use human computers and why the Thumbtop will change their lives.

Mousenet is a long book (389 pages) but I read it over two days because it was such fun.  The mice are especially endearing and each has its own quirky personality. This book might make a good family read-a-loud.  I now need to find the sequel Mousemobile.

Here is a little extract to make you smile - three mice will travel with Megan when she is sent to stay with her father and his new wife in Oregon.

"Next, a supply team gathered what was needed for the journey.  They gave each of the mice two small plastic bags, one full of cheese crackers,and the other empty, for poop.  As all mice know, few things in nature disturb humans as much as mouse poop, and a disturbed human can be the most danger mammal on the planet."

Genuine goodwill, humor and impressive believability will have readers longing for mice as friends—not to mention political allies.

Seekers Book One The quest begins by Erin Hunter

This book is a little frustrating because you know from the outset that the lives of these four bears will need to collide but by the end of this book one only two have met.

A student in my school asked me to buy the books in this series by Erin Hunter. She is a new author to me but I see she is actually quite famous and prolific. Her series called Warriors consists of eighteen titles plus two specials!

In this series, Seekers, the characters are four bears. Two are brown, one white and one black. Each have different life circumstances and hardships to endure and all are equally confused about humans or flat faces and their firebeasts.

Kallik is a polar bear growing up with her brother Taqqiq and their mother Nisa. As the weather is warming the group attempt to reach land moving from one iceberg to another but when Nisa is taken by a killer whale Kallik must continue the journey alone ever hopeful that one day she will be reunited with her brother.

Lusa is a zoo bred black bear who longs for the forests and freedoms she hears about from other bears. After months of careful observation an opportunity arises and Lusa escapes from the zoo to begin the long journey to find Toklo. Lusa has met Toklo's mother. She has been captured and placed in the zoo in the next enclosure. Oka is a mother in mourning. Her son Tobi has recently died as have many other cubs before him. This last death is too much for Oka and so she has abandoned Toklo.

Toklo is a brown bear. He is wild born but he has been left on his own before his mother has taught how to hunt and fish and survive.

We meet the fourth bear in this saga right at the end. He is called Ujurak and he is a shape shifter.

If you enjoy books about animals and survival this might be a series to look for. Each chapter has an alternating focus between the first three bears and in this way Erin Hunter firmly establishes the personality and strengths of each bear.