Rakali of the Riverbank by Stephanie Owen Reeder illustrated by Rachel Gregg

Just when you thought you had heard of every possible animal in Australia another one pops up. Of course we all know our platypus, another amphibious mammal, but what about the rakali? He is our largest native rodent. A rodent is an animal with strong incisor teeth for gnawing food. 

Bookseller blurb: Explore the night with Rakali as he hunts for food, patrols the riverbank and dodges threats. As the sun sets, Rakali prepares to patrol the riverbank. He is on a mission to fill his belly, protect his pups and keep his home safe. But he must face feral foxes, disease-carrying black rats and toxic cane toads. Will he make it safely back to his burrow before the sun rises? Rakali of the Riverbank is an engaging look at a night in the life of an Australian native water rat, and the challenges that these unique and charming creatures face.

This is another triumph for Stephanie Owen Reeder and, of course, CSIRO Publishing. Just so Stories

Things I learned from reading this book:

• The rakali is one of Australia’s only mammals to safely enjoy a meal of the highly toxic cane toad. Intelligent and resourceful, the water rat flips the toad over to avoid the poisonous glands found on the back of the toad’s neck and uses surgical-like precision to neatly remove the heart, liver, and toxic gall bladder before eating the rest.
• The rakali is one of only two amphibious mammals in Australia. The other is the platypus.
• They are also known as a golden-bellied water mouse or native water rat.
• Rakalis grow up to 60 cm long. Being the largest rat in Australia, they are useful to have around as they actually fight off introduced rats. You can tell them apart from introduced rats by their pale belly, mass of whiskers and the white tip on the end of their tail.
• The name rakali comes from the Ngarrindjeri people of the Murray River in South Australia. 
• They live beside estuaries, creeks, rivers, lakes and wetlands.
• The female cares for two to four young while the male patrols his territory. He sleeps in a separate burrow. 
• The scientific name is Hydromys chrysogaster
• Waterproof fur that dries quickly once on land.
• Elongated body shape which is perfectly adapted to glide through the water.
• Small ears that can be folded against its head and whiskers that surround the face, which are highly sensitive and help it to forage underwater at night.
• Partially webbed hind feet.
• Can grow up to 70 cm in length from nose to tip of the tail and weigh a little over a kilogram (about the size of an adult platypus).

Further reading:

• Backyard Buddies
• Australian Geographic
• inaturalist (great photos)

Image source: Ballarat Times

The format of this book is similar to the splendid Nature Storybooks (formerly called Read and Wonder). The main pages contain a narrative where we meet Rakali and see him hunting and protecting his territory and then on the final four pages you can read all about this curious animal and use the glossary to explore unfamiliar words. You can download the teachers notes here. 

The text in this book does give you all the facts about this little creature but it is expressed with very lyrical language:

Rakail's golden belly gleams as rays of light kiss the river goodnight.
A cape of ripples flows out behind him.

He charges at the toxic toad, sending the started creature sprawling on its back.

Moon shadows dance and a cool breeze ruffles his soggy fur.

And there are some fabulous words to explore with your reading companion such as hunkering, lurks, consume, humungous, abandoned, and gravelly sand.

Let's think for a moment about rodents - this could be a fabulous mini topic in your library. Some of my own favourite animals are rodents - the beaver; the capybara; the guinea pig; hamster; vole; squirrel; and porcupine. I also discovered there is a rodent called a kangaroo rat but this creature is not even Australian! It lives in North America. In Australia we have or have had at one time 57 different Australian rodents - I was utterly amazed to discover this.

Huge thanks to CSIRO Publishing for sending me a copy of this book. It was published just yesterday so it will be easy to find in your local bookstore. If your school buys a standing order of new titles this book will be included. You are sure to enjoy sharing this book with your youngest readers in your school library. I would begin my reading by talking about animal heroes - the rakali is a hero in my view because he is helping, in his own small way, with the elimination of those dreadful cane toads. 

Dr Stephanie Owen Reeder is the author of over 20 historical and environmental books for children, including Swifty and Sensational Australian Animals. She has won both the CBCA Book of the Year Award and the NSW Premier’s History Award.