Unreal: Can you tell fact from fake? by Kate Simpson illustrated by Leila Rudge

"Some of the displays from our Myths and Legends exhibit were brought here to the Natural History wing (of the museum) by mistake. ... 

Could you help me sort the real-world animals from the myths?"

This is a fantastic book and it has been so thoroughly researched - and the coloured pencil illustrations by Leila Rudge are perfect. I was alerted to this book when I saw the brochure for a recent local children's CBCA NSW event where Kate Simpson was one of the guests. I will confess I don't read many nonfiction books but I really enjoyed testing myself on each of the challenges - real or unreal. AND I was wrong more than I was right.

Every teacher of Grades 3-6 and every school library should make a chart using the introductory page from this book which explores these important research questions:

• Who is providing me with this information?
• Do they have evidence for their claims?
• Why are they telling me this?
• How recent is the information?
• Do other sources agree?

The first habitat was easy - which is real which is unreal - Kraken; Vampire Squid; Marine Iguana; Narwhal; Lamprey = Kraken. But then I started to go wrong. I had never heard of a Chupacabra - turns out this creature is an urban legend. Thank goodness because it is supposed to drink the blood of its prey. I also learnt some new vocab from this book such as the word cryptid which means an animal that some people believe is real but whose existence is not backed by science - such as the Loch Ness Monster. I am also curious to read more about foxfire fungus; the turtle frog (its Australian); zombi ant fungus; and the plantasian. I did think sewer alligators could be real - luckily they are not. Kate Simpson tried to trick me but I knew the spaghetti tree was an April fool's joke.

This book would be a delight to share with a class. If you or your school are members of PETAA they have developed some teaching ideas. There are ten animal categories in this book. I think it would be fun to share one category with your students each week. You could share the page; spend three or four days researching the creatures; vote for your choice of 'unreal' and then reveal the truth at the end of each week. A related topic could be museums - check out this Pinterest. 

We know that sorting fact from fiction is a useful skill for all readers to acquire as early as possible. This book with its tantalizing topics, its brief descriptive texts accompanying the engaging illustrations will keep children engaged and learning for hours. It’s a book to explore, to delve into and to share. Storylinks

This book is brimming with fascinating creatures, some I had not heard of (the turtle frog, tarsier and jerboa to name some) and mesmerising facts for each creature. The facts included are unique to each animal and may include information about their diet, habitat, adaptations, temperament, as well as information about what makes them unique, their life cycle plus many other engaging facts. For the incredible plants and fungi included (a plant that moves, a tree with exploding fruit, a carnivorous plant and the zombie-ant fungus) readers will learn more enthralling facts about each of these. Reading opens Doors

Author blurb: There's been a mix-up at the Museum - some of the displays from the Myths and Legends exhibit have snuck into the Natural History wing. We have to sort it out, but how can we tell fact from fiction? Animal from apparition? Megafauna from monster? Kids will have fun guessing which animals and plants are real and which are fake in this extraordinary exhibition of the strange and wonderful animals and plants that inhabit our world ... and our imaginations. And a brilliant guide to help us know what to look for when tracking down truths.

I missed this book last year - I was so pleased to see Unreal was a 2025 CBCA Eve Pownall Notable title. 

I previously adored these books by Kate Simpson:

How to move a zoo

Ouch!

Leila Rudge is the illustrator of two books that I really loved sharing with readers in my school library. We have sent her an invitation to participate in our IBBY Australia Mini Masterpiece art auction for 2025. I do hope she agrees to send us a post card sized piece of her beautiful art.

Gary

Once upon a small rhinoceros

IBBY Australia

Dear Leila,

We need your support. We were so delighted by the success of the inaugural 2023 Mini Masterpieces fundraiser that we’re going to run it again to raise funds for the Australian branch of the International Board on Books for Young People, IBBY Australia. 

We’re inviting celebrated Australian children’s book illustrators to donate post-card sized artworks for an online auction. Can you take part?

Formed in 1966, IBBY Australia is one of 82 National sections of IBBY, and each year must pay a membership fee of almost $10 000 to remain part of the international IBBY organisation.

IBBY was established following the Second World War and aims to build bridges to international understanding through children’s books. As you may be aware, IBBY Australia promotes Australian authors and illustrators by submitting their work for several IBBY administered international awards, including:

• the Hans Christian Andersen Award

• IBBY Honour Book List

• the Silent Books collection 

• the Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities list 

The Mini Masterpieces auction will run from 14 November to 28 November, with the original artworks promoted as a unique Christmas gift. Each piece will have a reserve of $75.

We welcome your support to help IBBY Australia continue to promote Australian creators internationally. Your contribution will be acknowledged and celebrated on our website and our social media channels. 

The Curious Explorer's Illustrated Guide to Exotic Animals A to Z by Marc Martin

Start here with my previous post "Meet the Illustrator Marc Martin".

Now back to The Curious Explorer's Illustrated Guide to Exotic Animals A to Z. Begin with the title - curious - this book is sure to lead children and adults to want to discover more about the, well curious, animals in this huge format book. Illustrated - yes the illustrations are wonderful - each a work of art to linger over. Guide - each animal also has the Latin name and there is a small fact box for each on the final spread. Exotic animals (from around the world) - such as the loris; quetzal; armadillo; ibex; macaw; narwhal; and hippopotamus. There are several Australian animals (Marc Martin is an Australian illustrator) - kangaroo; Tasmanian devil; and yellow-tailed black cockatoo. And A to Z of course adds a layer of organisation to this book which is always appealing especially to a Teacher-Librarian. I previously talked about alphabet books on this video for IBBY Australia. 

Electric Eel and Flamingo

Owl and Quetzal

Bookseller blurb: From armadillo to zebras, chameleons to quetzals, these exotic animals will surprise and delight. No curious explorer should be without Marc Martin's stunning celebration of strange and beautiful creatures from all over the world. Here is a book of wonder, a unique and breathtaking treasure from one of Australia's most outstanding new talents.

The Curious Explorer's Guide to Exotic Animals A to Z was published in 2013 so it might be difficult to buy a new copy but I am certain you will be able to find this book in many school and public libraries. In 2013 this book was included as a Standing Order title from Scholastic (see the teachers notes). If I had room on my own shelves I would love to add a copy of this beautiful book.

So much more than an alphabet book, this delightful children’s picture book shares the inspiration its creator finds in the world around him. Each letter of the alphabet depicts an animal interpreted through graphic design-style illustration. Those are the facts, but the reality is that each individual illustration uses art techniques and lush textures that sets them apart. Just so stories

Today I am heading off to meet Marc Martin. His newest book Dawn will be featured at an event at Gleebooks Kids. Last week I was shelving some books in a library where I am doing some volunteer work and I spied the Curious Explorer's Guide. Here is the cover of his new book Dawn.

When I was a very young child someone gifted me this animal alphabet book published in 1961. This goes part of the way towards explain my fascination with this topic.

Meet the illustrator Marc Martin

Begin with this video of the book A Forest by Marc Martin - the book is wonderful of course but this is also one of the best book videos I have ever seen. 

Just having my books published has been a highlight! A Forest was originally self-published, but I was lucky enough to get the attention of Penguin Australia who seemed to think it was worthy of a larger publishing deal! Reading the reviews for A Forest has been really exciting, and having the book compared to those by Jeannie Baker (one of my favourite picture book authors) is a real thrill.

Marc Martin is an illustrator and author based in Naarm/Melbourne. He works across a range of commercial projects, murals, editorial work, gallery shows and picture books. He is the author-illustrator of internationally award-winning books, including A Forest, A River, Everything & Everywhere and Masters of Disguise. He has twice been awarded Best Illustrated Picture Book by the New York Times, for A River (2017) and We Are Starlings (2023).

You can follow Marc Martin on Instagram. Perusing the webpages on his agent's site you will see Marc Martin has designed all sorts of things - cups for T2; Melbourne city brochures; wine bottle labels; covers for book catalogues; cushion covers; water bottles and keep cups; a huge city mural; and even a jigsaw (it is a circle and it has 1000 pieces!). You can also see his art and some of these extra things on his own webpage.  Here is a Q&A with Marc. 

Here on this blog I have previously talked about:

A River

Max 

(I own a limited edition print from this book - it is a piece of art I cherish)

A Stone is a Story

Here is the Kirkus review

Here are some other books illustrated by Marc Martin that you are sure to find in your local or school library:

Do not hide this book! Kirkus

Kirkus Star review: Captivating watercolor art immediately draws readers in. Before the title page, a blue-and-green map of Earth’s continents appears, superimposed with 12 circles; each circle contains a portrait of one of the upcoming subjects. Also preceding the title page, the author notes the importance of humans’ protecting habitat in order to save animals, “even when we can’t always see them!” Two double-page spreads are devoted to each animal, starting with chameleons. The first spread for each animal uses an ideal amount of negative space to set off short, titled paragraphs and art that perfectly complements the text. For example, “Sticky Situation” gives fascinating facts about a chameleon’s tongue as one whips across the top of the paragraph. The second double-page spread for each animal offers fun that will entice even 3-year-olds. A small amount of text lets readers know how many of the featured animal are hiding in each lushly painted environment—from eight mimic octopuses to 17 owl butterflies—as well as the names of other animals hidden there. The conversational text clearly defines words such as metamorphosis and opisthoglyphous (having fangs at the back of the upper jaw). Both art and text enhance scientific accuracy with beauty and playfulness—a rare feat. Sturdy pages, too.

If you love art by Sydney Smith from Canada you are certain to fall in love with all the books by our Australian illustrator Marc Martin. 

Here is the new book Dawn [9781529527346] from Marc Martin which will arrive here in September. I have put it at the top of my 'to buy' list.

You can see a few images from this book here. Blurb from author page: As the sun slowly rises, many things happen in a small window of time. The world comes alive with the actions of animals, plants, clouds, and sky. A deer drinks, an owl wakes, a dandelion shimmers in the light. A ladybug climbs, a fish jumps, birds call in a chorus. Geese fly away in formation. A flower blooms. Beautifully illustrated with glowing imagery and written with a charming simplicity holding appeal for new readers, Marc Martin’s ode to the slow-blooming beauty of a sunrise and the life that unfolds in its radiance narrows the lens to show the wonder of time passing. The Kirkus Star review said:

Truly stunning

His other new book is All About Antarctica due for release here in Australia in mid October 2025.

When I attended the USBBY conference in Austin Texas and I spoke at the Texas writer's festival I was keen to take a notebook because I knew there would be lots of great sessions. At the airport I was so delighted to find a notebook with a cover design by Marc Martin.  Here is the pattern on the cover.

Image source: Jacky Winter

IBBY Australia will be running our mini masterpiece art auction again this year as a way to raise funds for our IBBY international membership fee which is more than AUS$10,000. I am going to invite Marc Martin to participate and send us a small postcard sized piece of art for our auction. In 2023 we raised nearly AUS$9000 and we had art from some wonderful Australian illustrators - hopefully this event will be just as exciting in 2025. I hope he agrees to send us a tiny piece of his art as a part of our 2025 auction. Fingers Crossed!

The Big Book of Birds by Yuval Zommer

Publisher blurb: Why is a flamingo pink? Can a parrot talk? Is a bald eagle really bald? This follow-up to the hugely successful The Big Book of Bugs, The Big Book of Beasts and The Big Book of the Blue answers these questions and many more. It opens with introductory spreads explaining how to recognize different bird’s eggs, the bird family tree, why different species of birds have different beaks and feathers, and why some birds migrate and travel vast distances every year. Subsequent spreads, illustrated with various habitats, are dedicated to specific varieties of bird, including hummingbirds, peacocks, flamingos, bald eagles, secretary birds, albatrosses and red-crowned cranes. Some will teach children how to spot different birds within a specific variety, for example how to differentiate the American robin from the European robin. Others explore bird habitats, for example showing how birds adapt to live in cities. Finally, the book invites young bird spotters to protect birds where they live and make their gardens bird friendly. This is a big, beautiful book to look at again and again.

Social Media can be useful, distracting and of course it can show you the things you have missed out on. I recently saw that Yuval Zommer has been in Australia and more specifically here in Sydney at an event with Thames and Hudson, his publisher, and even more amazing our own Zeno Sworder was also a speaker/guest at this event. Zeno has a new book due out later this year.  I wonder how people knew to attend? I seem to follow so many authors and publishers on all the Social Media platforms but I did not see this event mentioned until various people shared photos of the event. I will admit I am very jealous of the people who attended.

At a recent charity book sale I spied The Big Book of Birds by Yuval Zommer. This is indeed a 'big' book and this copy is in mint condition so I will gift it to a friend. It only cost AUS$4 and as a bonus on the day I picked it up, the books at the fair were half price. The normal retail price for this book is AUS$30 so I did snaffle a bargain. The Big Book of Birds was published in 2020.

There are tiny details in the design of this book that will delight a young reader. The end papers show birds flying in towards the pages and at the back they are flying away. There is an egg hunt on every page and to read some of the pages you need to turn the book sideways. As with all excellent nonfiction books, this one has a detailed contents list and an index.

The birds in this book are from around the world. I especially love the double spreads about puffins, flamingos, Secretary birds, robins, Great Grey owls and hummingbirds. 

There is just enough information on each page to spark curiosity in your young reading companion aged 6+. I have talked about so many bird books on this blog - just click the word birds in my post label. Kirkus say this book is insubstantial but I think it is a great introduction to a wide range of birds and the illustrations are simply delightful. If a young reader spies a bird that catches their attention there are sure to be plenty of other books that give will give them more details. 

Here are some other splendid books by Yuval Zommer. Notice all the titles have a word starting with the letter 'B'. I think all of these should be added to your school library collection:

Let's Talk Picture books explore his Big Book of Blooms. I am now very keen to see another book from this series - The Big Book of Belonging. You can follow Yuval Zommer on Instagram. His new book due to arrive here in Australia in September is one I really do need to own - it is called Our Islands. I have travelled to lots of special islands - Fair Isle; Mull; Skye; Shetland; Isle de Magdalen (Canada); Nantucket; Martha's Vineyard; Orkney; Jersey; Hern; Sark; and Gurnsey. I am not sure that any of these are included in this book so that means it will give a new list of islands I need to explore. 

Once I was a tree by Eoin McLaughlin illustrated by Guilherme Karsten

The cover of this book actually says: written by a book (with help from Eoin LcLaughlin) so right away you might guess this will be a funny book and that it is sure to 'break the fourth wall'. Then turn inside and read the dedications - "Dedicated to the book that the tree became GK" "Dedicated to the tree I used to be - The Book." Now take some time to read all the fun annotations on the imprint page. For example, the text says the paper is made from wood grown in sustainable forests and our narrator comments - "that's tree-mendous news".  Beside the illustrator name the narrator adds "his trees are 10/10". And the comment about the publisher name which is Nosy Crow is hilarious. Oh, and do look under the dust jacket but maybe do this after you read this book. Also run your fingers over the cover to feel the texture. There are so many terrific design features to explore in Once I was a tree. 

Now onto the first page:

"Once I was a tree. I wasn't just any old tree. I was a pine tree. I was tall, green and handsome. Don't believe me? Just take a look!"

The illustration shows a photo frame image of our tree as he used to be. Have you guessed what is about to happen? Well first you need to go on the journey from seed to tree via a squirrel's bottom (yes I did say bottom) and some assistance from Barbara the dung beetle. Trees are so tall, especially pine trees, that you will need to turn the book sideways to see its full size. 

Everything goes along happily until one day when someone chops the tree down. 

Oh no "I know. I was fuming."

But all is not lost. The wood is milled and turned into paper and that paper becomes a book - yes this book!

"I'm not tall, or green. But I'm still handsome. And I still smell good. Go on. Smell me!"

This book was published in 2025 (just a couple of days ago on 6th May) and the beautifully designed hardcover edition is a very good price here in Australia. Add this book to your school library and then read it to a group of your young library visitors - they are sure to be chuckling and also amazed. 

Bookseller blurb: Get ready to meet Barbara the beetle and Derek the squirrel who (through the power of poo) help a wise-cracking seed turn into a handsome tree . . . and become a wonderful book! And GUESS WHAT? It's the book that you're holding! A book to be loved, shared and cherished forever. Perfect for fans of Jon Klassen and Oliver Jeffers. Tactile jacket cover with a surprise underneath! Have fun with turn-around pages.

Guilherme Karsten was born and lives in Blumenau, southern Brazil. He studied Advertising and Graphic Design and started his illustration career in animation and fashion industry. In 2010, he illustrated his first children’s book. Since then he’s illustrated more than 30 books from Brazilian and international authors. Leading him to start writing himself and in 2017, “The Ride!”, his first book as an author & illustrator, won the honorable mention at the 2017 Serpa International Picture Book Prize (Planeta Tangerina, Portugal). Take a look at his art. 

Tate Publishing 2020

I previously talked about this book by Eoin McLaughlin:

The Case of the Missing Cake

Companion book:

The Great Paper Caper

No Monkeys, No Chocolate by Melissa Stewart illustrated by Nicole Wang

Jacket flap blurb: When you think of chocolate, you might think of a candy bar, a birthday cake, or a glass of chocolate milk. But where does chocolate come from? Its main ingredient is actually the cocoa bean, which grows on cocoa trees in tropical rain forests. These trees can't survive without the help of the animals and other living things that share their habitat. The seeds, pods, flowers, leaves, stems and roots of the cocoa tree depend on organisms like the pollen-sucking midge, the aphid-munching anole, and ye, even the brain-eating coffin fly. In the rain forest every living thing has an important part of play. Even the monkeys.

The paperback edition of No Monkey, No Chocolate appears to be available even though it was published in 2018.  [9781580892889]. 

Bookseller blurb:  A secondary layer of text delves deeper into statements such as "Cocoa flowers can't bloom without cocoa leaves . . . and maggots," explaining the interdependence of the plants and animals in the tropical rain forests. Two wise-cracking bookworms appear on every page, adding humor and further commentary, making this book accessible to readers of different ages and reading levels.

The little book worms and their commentary on each page are why I added 'Breaking the Fourth Wall' to this book. "Is the cocoa pod like an ipod?" "Quit monkeying around I'm trying to concentrate."

Every school library should add science books by Melissa Stewart to their collection - all of her books are splendid and she has a fabulous and very practical web page. I previously talked about Thank you Moon, and Tree Hole Homes. 

Melissa Stewart has always been fascinated by the natural world and enjoys sharing it with readers of all ages. She is the award-winning author of more than 100 books for young readers and has written more than 70 articles for children and adults. Trained as a scientist and a journalist, Melissa believes that nothing brings writing to life like firsthand research. While gathering information for her books, Melissa has explored tropical forests in Costa Rica, gone on safari in East Africa, and swum with sea lions in the Galapagos Islands. She can’t imagine any job she’d rather have!

Read more here. Kirkus gave this book a Star Review. There are even more details in this School Library Journal Review. 

On a book forum this week someone asked for Easter books for their child aged 10. They specifically wanted Chapter Books but I just could not think of any to suggest. Instead I mentioned this book - The Talking Eggs - which is a long form picture book. I read this book to hundreds of Grades 4 and 5 students in my former school library but if I had seen No Monkeys, No Chocolate I would have also mentioned this even though it a non-fiction title it is so fascinating and I think a perfect addition to your Easter reading.

Take a look at this post about chocolate from my friend at Kinderbookswitheverything. Here are some other books about chocolate.

The House on the Canal by Thomas Harding illustrated by Britta Teckentrup

"The girl with the sweet smile hid in the house with her father and mother and sister and four others. The top floors of the annexe were now a hiding place. They had to be silent, otherwise the police and soliders would find them. So still. Not a sound. Each minute was a day. Each day was a year."

The House on the Canal begins in 1580 when the land a marshland:

"With some cows. A few herons. A family of fieldmice. And in the sky above, a flock of seagulls. It was a calm and happy place".

By 1600 workers begin to reclaim the land and create the canals we all associate with Amsterdam. In 1635 the first house is built by a newly arrived stonemason. 

"The stonemason wanted more space. So they added an annex behind the main house with a large attic."

Yes, just in case you haven't worked it out - this is the famous annexe and attic where Anne Frank and seven other people stayed in hiding until their arrest in August 1944. But before we get to that point so many other people lived in this house with large and small families, or they used it for their business including a company that made metal beds and stoves; a small business that made piano rolls; and it was for a while used as a sewing workshop and even a horse stable. 

After the war the only survivor of the Frank family was Anne's father Otto. He worked hard with other members of the community to save the house on Canal Street and at last, in 1960 the house was opened to the public. 

Perhaps you are wondering about the chestnut tree that gives Anne comfort during her long days in hiding. It began to grow in 1853 so that means by 1940 when the family moved into the attic the tree was 87 years old. 

The text in this book will be accessible to children aged 10+ but I would also add this book to a High School library so that students who study history, or architecture or who read The Diary of Anne Frank can discover more about this famous house. This book could also be a fabulous way to show the depth of research completed by an author or an historian. See inside the book here. Read more about the author Thomas Harding. And this book should also be shared with an art class because Britta Teckentrup is an outstanding illustrator. 

Readers will emerge simultaneously awed by the passage of time and personally affected by the stories told. Teckentrup overlays her bright, exquisitely detailed sepia-toned depictions of the house and its environs with a misty haze; the results are hauntingly beautiful. Deeply moving, powerful, and breathtaking. Kirkus Star review

Readers will notice that the Frank family are not the first residents of this house to have experienced religious persecution, or to have been confined to the house for extended periods of times. At other times, the freedom enjoyed by previous residents poignantly contrast with the restrictions faced by the Franks – freedoms which all families want and which can easily be taken for granted. Just Imagine

I first saw a mention of this book over a year ago. I am so happy this book has now arrived here in Australia. It is a book to cherish. In 1974 I visited Anne Frank's House in Amsterdam. I was quite young but the experience affected me deeply. Later, in my school library I read these books to my Grade 6 library groups and we talked about Anne Frank.

Let the Celebrations begin

Rose Blanche

Behind the Bookcase

I am also very keen to read this book from 2019 but sadly it is way too expensive here in Australia:

If you want to read another book that traces the history of a house try to find this one with scrumptious illustrations by Roberto Innocenti:

Thomas Harding and Britta Teckentrup have created two other books about the history of a specific house:

On the outskirts of Berlin, a wooden cottage stands on the shore of a lake. Over the course of a century, this little house played host to a loving Jewish family, a renowned Nazi composer, wartime refugees and a Stasi informant; in that time, a world war came and went, and the Berlin Wall was built a stone's throw from the cottage's back door. With words that read like a haunting fairy tale, and magnificent illustrations by Britta Teckentrup, this is the astonishing true story of the house by the lake.

In the northeast corner of the USA, near the city of Auburn, stands a red brick house. It was built 130 years ago and served as a farmhouse, old people's home, museum and a refuge for enslaved women, men and children. It was the scene of an extraordinary story: the American Revolutionary War, the Underground Railroad, the American Civil War, the fight for women's suffrage, and a safe place for Harriet Tubman, her family, and many others. This is the exciting story of a remarkable house.

Our World full of Wonder by Jevita Nilson illustrated by Jess Racklyeft

This book is published by the CSIRO here in Australia. I did not read the blurb and I didn't focus on the cover when I first 'dived in'.  In my mind the places in this book were in Australia so imagine my surprise when I discovered I had just been on a journey around the world and had seen places that were totally new to me and others that should have been familiar such as one from Australia - The Great Barrier Reef and Iguzau Falls in South America.

"There is a place where the night sky is a ballet of light, where ghostly greens swirl above snow-capped mountains, and reflections dazzle the darkness."

Aurora Borealis

"There is a place where the rocks are streaked with colour, where ancient mountains rise from the land, and time has revealed a hidden rainbow palette."

Rainbow Mountain China (Zhangye National Geopark)

"There is a place where a mysterious cave holds magical wonders, where explorers climbed over monstrous crystals glistening in the depths of Earth."

Cave of the Crystals Mexico (Sierra de Naica in Chihuahua)

Here are all the places you can visit in this book - it is sure to inspire young (and old) travellers:

- Aurora borealis, North Pole
- The Great Barrier Reef, Australia
- The Rainbow Mountains, China
- Reynisfjara Beach (black sand beach), Iceland
- Lake Hillier, Australia
- Sequoia National Park, United States of America
- Catatumbo lightning, Venezuela
- The Cave of the Crystals, Mexico
- Valley of Flowers National Park, India
- Iguazu Falls, Argentina and Brazil
- Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park, Madagascar
- Vaadhoo Island (Sea of Stars), Maldives

Here is a list with examples of the exquisite vocabulary used in this book: ballet of light; multicoloured maze; rainbow palette; fairy-floss water; streaks of silver pierce the clouds; the torrent's roar; eerie shadows; and illuminating the moonless night.

Here is the blurb from the back cover: Explore fascinating phenomena and places around the world in this vibrant picture book. Our world is full of amazing natural wonders. From sparkling seas and towering trees, to valleys, lakes and waterfalls, there are extraordinary places that seem too magical to be true but can be found right here on planet Earth. There are ghostly green lights of the aurora borealis near the North Pole, and exquisite rainbow mountains in China. There is a lake in Australia so pink it looks like fairy floss, and giant crystal caves hidden below Mexico. These are just some of the incredible places you will discover in Our World Full of Wonder. Shall we go explore?

Here are the brief Scholastic Teacher's Notes. There is a link on the publisher page to a more detailed set of teaches notes.

I wonder why oh why this book did not make the 2025 CBCA Eve Pownall (Non Fiction) notables list - this is a book that SHOULD be added to your school library. If you purchase standing orders from a supplier you may already have this book. This is a book to treasure in your library and it would also be a wonderful gift for a child aged 8+. 

You can see more books by Jess Racklyeft. Here is the second book in this series:

Earth's wildlife is nothing short of extraordinary. There are colour-changing chameleons in the forests of Madagascar and cliff-climbing goats in the European Alps. There are fluorescent fish in the depths of the Mariana Trench and wildfire-surviving echidnas in the Australian bush. Our World of Wild Wonders explores the unique animal species that inhabit our planet. Some mighty, some meek, but all wondrous in their own special way. Shall we go explore?