Platypus Bend by Diane Jackson Hill illustrated by Craig Smith

The rivulet begins high on a mountain top. It twists and turns and turns and twists 

until it swirls around a bend and softens into a calm pool...

No-one knows – but in that pool there is a secret.

We have some truly curious creatures here in Australia - the kangaroo, koala, numbat, wombat, potoroo, frilled-neck lizard, goanna, dingo, Tasmanian Tiger, emu, echidna, quokka, and birds like the kookaburra and lyrebird but one of my favourites is the platypus. Sadly, I have never seen one except in a zoo, and when you read Platypus Bend it is very clear why because this special solitary monotreme is very good at hiding in order to stay safe.

The joy of this book, apart from reading and learning more about the platypus, comes from the wonderful depictions of our Australian bush by Craig Smith. Take a look at this gentle video made by Craig Smith to showcase his book. And in this video Craig talks about his book. Please watch the video - it will give you a terrific insight into Craig's work as an illustrator.

Image source: Museums Victoria

As we observe the life of the platypus you need to notice the parallel story of the family who live near the creek. This illustration which is part of a larger double spread shows the family moving into their new home.

The fact section at the back of Platypus Bend made me smile with their creative heading - Platypus Particulars. 

Read about the Citizen Scientist project - The Great Australian Platypus search. Here are some classroom resources. 

I am sharing this book today (24th February) because tonight the CBCA will announce their 2026 Book of the Year Notable titles. I am absolutely certain Platypus Bend will be one of the over one hundred titles. Platypus Bend fits into the Eve Pownall Award for Non Fiction.

Look for other books in your local or school library about this curious creature [599.29] - The Platypus: In 2020 I penned this blog post. 

Here are three other books where Diane Jackson Hill and Craig Smith have collaborated.

Windcatcher

Mystery of the Missing Turtles illustrated by James O'Hanlon

"All tortoises are turtles, but not all turtles are tortoises! Turtles are reptiles with a shell that has formed by fusing their rib cage to their backbone. ... There are 350 living species of turtles around the world and many more extinct series have been discovered from fossils. ... Collectively, the scientific name for all these shelled animals is Testudines."

This book has been written by a team of scientists: Deborah S. Bower, Ricky-John Spencer, Michael B. Thompson, James U. Van Dyke. Here is a link to the teachers notes. 

Brooke loves watching the turtles in the creek near her farm. She has learnt to identify the different types of turtles but she also, sadly notices that that they all seem to be big and old. Where are the baby turtles? Brooke finds a nest with turtle eggs, but she makes a terrible discovery - all of the eggs have been eaten. What has happened? Brooke is a problem solver and a budding scientist. She sets up a 'trap' with chicken eggs hoping the thief (or as she calls it the criminal) will be caught on her camera. The culprit is a big red fox. Brooke continues with her observations, and she sets up a wire grid to protect the nest. By the end of this book over 100 baby turtles can be seen crawling down to the creek.

About the authors: Associate Professors Deborah S. Bower, James U. Van Dyke, and Professors Ricky-John Spencer and Michael B. Thompson are turtle biologists who created the 1 Million Turtles Citizen Science Project to encourage participation in turtle conservation in Australia. Associate Professor Elizabeth Hale researches and teaches children’s literature and writing at the University of New England. Dr James O’Hanlon is an award-winning science communicator, author and illustrator. Whether through art, science or storytelling, James works to illuminate the beauty and complexity of creatures that are often overlooked

As I mentioned, the turtle eggs are being eaten by a fox. I expected to read more details about foxes as an introduced species here in Australia in the end notes. There is only a brief mention of this. It is good, however, to read about the turtles we have here in Australia, the difference between a turtle and a tortoise, the way turtles help our environment and most important of all the Citizen Scientist Project - '1 Million Turtles'. There are very useful teaches resources on this page too. 

The 1 Million Turtles is a national community conservation citizen science program. This program promotes a strong collaboration between scientists and the community to support initiatives aimed at conserving threatened Australian freshwater turtle species.  

Aims:

• Increase survival rates of freshwater turtles and turtle nests, and by doing so, increase our turtle populations by at least 1 million. Hence the program name '1 Million Turtles'.
• Increase knowledge of freshwater turtle distributions across Australia and identify hotspots for future conservation.
• Train the community in methods that promote turtle conservation, like how to save a turtle on a road, or protect a turtle nest.

As you have seen this final point is the focus of Mystery of the Missing Turtles. 

There seem to be lots of non fiction books about Sea Turtles so I curious about the difference. This Wikipedia article talks about the way turtles and tortoises are given different names in different countries. Here is what I found from a US page:

• Sea turtles and land turtles are two distinct types of turtles that have different adaptations for living in their respective environments.
• Both sea turtles and land turtles play important roles in their respective ecosystems.
• Public awareness and conservation efforts are needed to protect these amazing creatures from threats such as habitat loss, pollution, and over-harvesting.
• Sea turtles have a more streamlined body shape, which allows them to swim more efficiently in the water. Their limbs are modified into flippers that help them move through the water.
• Land turtles have sturdier limbs and a more dome-shaped shell that provides protection against predators.
• Another physical difference between sea turtles and land turtles is their ability to retract their limbs into their shell. Land turtles have the ability to retract their limbs and head into their shell for protection.
• Sea turtles, on the other hand, cannot retract their limbs into their shell, as their limbs are modified into flippers.
• Land turtles lay eggs in nests dug in the ground, and the eggs take several months to hatch. The hatchlings are small and vulnerable and are often preyed upon by predators.
• Land turtles are known for their long lifespan, with some species living for over 100 years. The Galapagos tortoise is one of the longest-lived land turtles, with some individuals living for over 150 years.
• Australia is home to 34 native turtle species, including 28 freshwater turtles and 6 marine turtles, each with unique characteristics and conservation statuses. Read more here.

There are so many new books from CSIRO Publishing that combine a narrative with non-fiction text or content and which explore very interesting topics but I do have one small criticism - I wish this series had continued to emulate the wonderful Nature Storybooks or as they were formerly called Read and Wonder and used similar illustrators with less reliance on digital images. Titles such as The Forgotten Song has brilliant illustrations as does Where are all the Christmas Beetles. 

The content of all of these CSIRO Publishing books will be of great interest to young readers and also very welcome in schools to link with syllabus content.

Find some of my blog posts here.

My friend has a comprehensive Pinterest collection of books about tortoises and turtles. Companion books:

Read more here

The Great Shark Egg Case Hunt by Kasey Whitelaw illustrated by Sylvia Morris

Understanding how many sharks reproduce helps scientists and conservationists protect vulnerable species. Since sharks generally have fewer offspring than other fish, overfishing can severely reduce populations. The fact that only a few sharks lay eggs means each egg is important for the species' survival. (How Stuff Works)

Begin with the title:

• Great - in this book you will meet children from all around the world (that's pretty great).
• Shark - in Australia we are fascinated by sharks - very sadly in my local area just a couple of weeks ago a popular local resident lost his life after a shark attack. Of course not all sharks are dangerous.
• Egg case - wait a minute - do sharks lay eggs? Yes, and that is the topic of this book.
• Hunt - why are people hunting for these eggs? Is that okay? What will happen to the information? This sounds like a Citizen Science project.

Image Source: A to Z animals

Each shark produces a slightly different mermaid’s purse, so it’s possible to identify the original shark species just from this casing. Rays, chimeras, and skates also create egg cases similar in appearance to a shark casing. These are also colloquially known as a mermaid’s purse.

In this video from 2023 a CSIRO scientist explains the Citizen Science project in more detail. 

As with all good nonfiction this book will give your students (and you too) a terrific jumping off point for further investigations and research.

If I was sharing this book in a classroom or with a library group I would grab a large sized world map perhaps with more details than the one in the book (paper not on a screen) and then print out images of eight sharks from around the world to add to the map then after reading The Great Shark Egg Case Hunt I would assign groups of students to research each shark and then present a brief talk to the class using the map and the shark photo plus a photo of the egg case as props for their talk. At the end of the week when every group has presented their findings the kids could write a 3-question quiz for their classmates to see how well everyone was listening and also to discover which curious facts really grabbed everyone's attention. This book is aimed at a younger audience ages 5-9 but this was a topic I knew nothing about so even as an adult I enjoyed exploring this topic more deeply. 

Here are a few of the things I discovered from this book and from further reading:

• Puffadder Shysharks from South Africa curl up into a doughnut shape to avoid predators.
• Here's a new word - chimaera. They are also known as ghost sharks, rat fish, spook fish and rabbit fish. The Elephant Fish from New Zealand is a chimaera and this is the shark in this book. 
• Chimaera are closely related to sharks, skates and rays. But they diverged from their shark relatives around 400 million years ago.
• In Alaska there are jelly fish called Moon Jellies
• A mermaid’s purse is an empty shark egg case that washes up on shore. It looks a lot like seaweed when it is on the beach.
• This book, The Great Shark Egg Case Hunt, focuses on Oviparous Sharks: Egg-Laying Specialists but there are also Viviparous Sharks: The Live-Bearers and more sharks with more complex reproductive processes.
• Primarily slow-moving, bottom-dwelling fishes of the oceans, the skates and rays are close relatives of the sharks. All three belong to the same class of fish, Chondrichthyes—vertebrates whose skeleton is composed of cartilage, not true bone. (Source)

Image Source: A to Z animals

Bullhead sharks, Port Jackson sharks, and horn sharks are sharks that produce spiraled eggs

Huge thanks to CSIRO Publishing for this advance copy - The Great Shark Egg Case Hunt was published last week. 

Do Sharks Lay Eggs?

Around 25% of all sharks lay eggs. Most sharks do not lay eggs and instead give birth to live young that have developed inside the mother’s body. The eggs of oviparous (egg-laying) sharks are encased in leathery pouches known as “mermaid’s purses”, which protect the embryo as it develops. Some shark species spend over a year in the egg-case before hatching.

Shark egg-cases are generally rectangular in shape with a horn projecting from each corner. Some have long, string-like tendrils extending from the horns. The tendrils help to secure the egg-case to vegetation on the seabed.

The Great Eggcase Hunt is an initiative of UK-based charity The Shark Trust. It began in the UK 20 years ago and has since recorded more than 380,000 individual egg cases from around the world. Australian Geographic

There are at least 37 species of sharks and skate that lay eggs of many shapes and sizes to be found on Australian beaches. Here is a link to the detailed teachers notes. There is also a lot of good advice in this book - "look don't touch".

I found one list that identified nine types of sharks: Mackerel sharks; Ground sharks; Bullhead sharks; Carpet sharks; Angel sharks; Saw sharks; Frilled and cow sharks; Dogfish, lantern sharks and sleeper sharks and Bramble sharks. But then in The Great Shark Egg Case Hunt I read (in the back notes) about the Hornshark; the skate; and the catshark so clearly there is a lot more to discover.

What Are Some Sharks That Lay Eggs? (Also Called Oviparity) These sharks are oviparous:

• Cat Sharks
• Horn Sharks
• Bamboo Sharks
• Carpet Sharks
• Zebra Sharks
• Swell Sharks
• Port Jackson Shark
• Dogfish Sharks
• Australian Swellshark

Kasey Whitelaw is a marine biologist, educator and children’s writer. She has an interest in connecting children to science and nature, sparking their wonder and curiosity through storytelling and education.

Sylvia Morris is an illustrator and science enthusiast. She loves illustrating picture books because it combines two of her favourite activities: reading and problem solving. She is also the illustrator of Bear to the Rescue and The Opal Dinosaur.