Alan, a grumpy cat with a huge brain, wants to take over the world. Fido, his sidekick dog, has been reading Science Today magazine and suggests that to help him to do this they clone Alan like the scientists have done with the sheep. Claiming to be from the 'Cloning Machine Inspection Agency' they infiltrate the lab, clone the cloning machine and distract the scientists with free calculators to get the machine out. Of course, the exercise is a disaster, 100 clones instead of 1 and the clones clone themselves. Luckily cats are easily distracted by a feather dangled on fishing line and they are eventually lured back into the machine in reverse. Alan’s next bright idea is to form his own country, the Independent Republic of Alanland and they get a ‘new country’ form from the local post office. The certificate arrives the next day along with an invitation for Alanland to participate in the Olympics. Fido makes a flag and Alan writes an anthem, the only other preparation is that Alan squeezes into some lycra shorts with disastrous consequences when they get to the Olympics. The two have some other crazy adventures including the invention of a new number, Onety Tweven Sillion which they register at the General Board of Numbers, and meeting aliens looking for the leader of the world to prosecute for various crimes; including space litter and ham and cheese pizza. There is a lovely frame where two spacemen are drifting around a pile of poo in space with one reporting 'Houston, we have a floater…’.
Tom McLaughlin has crafted all the text and illustrations and the restricted colour palette, black, white and ginger adds to the hand-crafted feel of the book, with standard, five or six frames to the page, occasionally spilling over the margins to great effect. The fast-paced plot with plenty of bum, poo and fart jokes will appeal to younger readers and the surreal situations and clever storytelling will appeal to all.
Themes Graphic novel, Adventure, Cartoon humour.
Sue Speck
Einstein the Penguin: The Case of the Polar Poachers by Iona Rangeley. Illus. by David Tazzyman
It was a cold December day in London "where the days end early and forget to start on time" when the Stewart family decided to spend the afternoon at London Zoo and six-year-old Arthur and nine-year-old first connected with Einstein and Arthur tells him, "And you, Mr Penguin, must come and stay with us whenever you like. Penguins are always very welcome at our house." So they are very surprised when Mr Penguin actually turns up on their doorstep that evening, with a rucksack labelled 'Einstein' on its back.
But what is a fairy penguin from Sydney, Australia doing in London in the first place?
In the first adventure in this series, Arthur and Imogen reluctantly send Einstein back to Australia, even though it means they may never see him again, but in the second, he returns to London and once again connects with the children. Now in the third, and perhaps the final, there is another mystery to solve as penguins start disappearing from the South Sandwich Islands, and the children are convinced that there is foul play involved, rather than natural forces. Even though Imogen believes that now she is in Year 7 playing detective is too babyish for her, nevertheless she decides that this is an important issue and decides to help Arthur uncover what is really behind the disappearances -and discovers a lot more than she bargained for.
Best read in order because of the reappearance of previous characters whose backgrounds are assumed to be known, and references to those previous mysteries, this is a series for independent readers who like to solve mysteries and see themselves in the role of the main characters.
As with the original, it also offers opportunities to think about the ethics of keeping animals in captivity, the huge illegal wildlife trade and why it is so profitable, estimated to be worth billions of dollars, as well as its impact on the future of some species.
We frequently view movies and stage shows and rarely question the back story of the characters. In Gregory Maquire's latest book Elphie we have the imagined childhood and coming-of-age story of Elphaba (Elphie), the most iconic witch of Oz who we know so well from Wicked, Maguire's internationally bestselling novel that inspired the hit stage show phenomenon. Wicked, as with many of Magire's young adult and adult novels, is inspired by a classic children's story; in this case Frank Baum's The wizard of Oz written in 1900.
The cleverness and wit of the author, the subtle and not-so-subtle undercurrents of religiosity when different cultures and belief systems collide, the gut-wrenchingly powerful portrayal of disability(or otherness) and the growth of a child's (Elphie's) awareness of the world (of how people operate and of personal identity) are the hallmarks of this novel. Throughout Maguire perceptively depicts the interiority of Elphie as she processes the world around her.
Other characters are well developed. Readers will enjoy Elphie's beautiful, spirited mother, her pious, hopeless, dreamer missionary father, her saintly sister Nessarose and the hilarious droll Nanny. Maguire, when conjecturing directly to the reader, places the characters in their role in history and memory and muses about how they will be seen by later descendants, historians and readers. Perhaps Melena, (Elphie's mum) will be viewed as solipsistic and arrogant, Nanny may be seen as oppressed, Severin and Snapper may be seen as opportunistic and venal, the chieftain and his tribe as noble defenders of their land but "...the moth in the tapestry"..."Pacing out of the reeds on her own two green feet, hardly three green feet high..." is Elphie - perhaps she will not be changed throughout time...
The novel is divided into four parts- the first three of which finish with a "Passim" that serves the authorial purpose of grounding Elphie's life (future, present and past) into a continuum. It gives the author, who has adopted the third person point of view, the opportunity to point to how the present has sprung from the past and what the future might bring. This results in a gratifying unfolding of story line for the reader where time, memory and ancestry matter. Much of what Maguire concludes in these "Passims" is profound eg. "Some memories disappear around the bend and die while others link arms and make movements into episodes so firm it feels you could...walk upon them across time itself." (p. 58) Maguire talks about shuffling through memories, beginning to have a history, impressions of the past and how from a certain age memories slot ..." more or less chronologically in the library of her mind." Elphie realises on her mother's death that she is no longer immortal.
The first part of the book is "The Encounter". The reader encounters Elphie's missionary family, the missionionaries encounter the Quadling tribe (..."the last stand of doomed animism") and we encounter a strange power in Elphie, the four-year-old green-skinned girl. Gut wrenchingly sad, brutal and telling is the encounter with the crocodrilos variously described as a "vile creature", "familiar and deformed at once", "waterlogged hedgehog", "defective specimen", "editorial objection", "biological bravado", "...so it smells bad and looks fierce. So it's a bizarre instance of its own kind. Does that justify judging it a mortal threat?" The crocodrilos can be read as a metaphorical example of disability and otherness and the cruelty and sadness that can often be experienced by people with disabilities when encountering others. Elphie is shunned and scorned because of her green skin; her sister Nessarose has no arms. The book continues, charting Elphie's childhood, with Maguire, the omniscient and at times chatty author, drawing the reader in as a confidante, speaking in asides and scattering hints about the future. Elphie grows to "... adolescence, spare us all."
Setting the story mostly in the dismal marshlands and neighboring wild countries that border Munchkinland or Oz with its yellow brick road, Maguire depicts the imperial nature of Oz versus the primitive state of the lands outside. His description of setting are powerfully evocative and engage all of the reader's senses. "War in the air, and yet the air is soft. Rotting jasmine and ripe skunk cabbage, Frogs in the sawgrass marsh..." Over and against the physical settings, scattered through the text are many organic allusions to Biblical and other sources eg, baby Nessa found floating in a burnished shield amongst the cat-tails (ref. Moses in the bullrushes) and "There was a snake in Lurline's garden, no doubt..."(ref. Genesis, the snake in the garden of Eden) making for a rich cross-referenced work.
This book contains a wealth of highly powerful quotes. This reader could share many more quotes but urges others to read this book... However, this reader begs indulgence to include just one more - Maguire on disability, "...a hobbled swan on the water may not be able to wheel aloft with her sisters. But she is no less beautiful, and she is doubled by her reflection in a way she can never be doubled in the air."
Reader, take your time with this book. For a powerful, unputdownable read with a plot that tracks the growth of character, for important themes, interesting characters, evocative settings and very clever, thought-provoking writing, Elphie is highly recommended.
Themes Otherness, Disability, Magic, The outcast, Ancestor worship, Christian missionary life.
White writes that his latest book is inspired by ‘Victorian England’s sordid history of labelling certain people ‘ill’ or ‘other’ to justify cruelty against them’. And he claims that his novel does not reflect the full extent of medical experimentation on minority peoples. Be warned, this novel is full of gore, graphic surgical procedures and violence. It is a horror story, set in a fantasy world within 1880’s London. If you read the prologue, typed in white text on black paper, you know what you are in for, and it’s up to each reader whether they read further or not.
It is the story of a 16 year-old violet-eyed girl, at a time when the Speaker Society values violet-eyed girls, as highly desirable wives in order to produce male progeny with spiritual powers. However Gloria, despite her eyes, abhors this future, regardless of the status and wealth it might bring her, because at heart she feels she is a boy. ‘She’ is in fact ‘he’, and Silas is his preferred name. His heart thumps like a rabbit, full of fear for his future because ‘It will hurt it will hurt it will hurt’.
White immerses the reader in Silas’s world. We feel his fear, the tension that manifests in stumbling words and flapping hands, his tears, his anxiety and suppressed anger. He is desperate to escape his future, but his plans go awry and he finds himself imprisoned in the monstrous Braxton’s Sanitorium and Finishing School. And that is where the real horror begins.
White is a brilliant writer, he clutches at our hearts, and the pace keeps us glued to the page. We become immersed in the inner world of the trans person hiding in a society that will not accept them. I have read reviews that have thanked him and welcomed his portrayal of this world. The fantasy becomes a metaphor for the fear and anxiety that they endure, and at the same time shines a light on historical barbaric attempts to force them to conform to ‘normality’.
I was drawn into this novel and read it to the end, but not being a fan of the horror genre, I found the gore a bit too much at times, and for that reason would recommend it for an older readership than his previous YA book Compound fracture. Compound Fracture is highly recommended as an introduction to this genre. I think that perhaps The spirit that bares its teeth became an unrestrained outpouring that could have benefited from some sympathetic editing. That said, I am sure that any White novel will be a confrontational but necessary revelation of a viewpoint that has been long neglected in YA literature.
Imagine if you were a little girl, nine years old, as long as your bunk bed and as kind as a marshmallow, and you lived in a treehouse in the bush with your friends Walter the wombat, who loves to clean but can have an attitude issue, Tiny the honey possum, who is so small she travels in your pocket, Odette the pademelon, who is constantly bouncing and Poky, an echidna who alters colours and shades depending on Hazel's emotions. What adventures might you have?
For this is the story (or stories) of Hazel who is just such a girl, and this is a collection of short-ish stories that recount their lives together whether it's staying in bed all day on a Sunday because Wombat doesn't want to get up or searching for rainbows on rainy days or celebrating a special day even if you don't know why it's special.
Whether read alone or read aloud, these are gentle stories about ordinary things but made extraordinary by the characters, each of whom has their special quirks and charm. But despite these differences, each story is woven with the threads of friendship, collaboration, and being in touch with your emotions while embracing and navigating the ups and downs of everyday life, including starting school for the first time which makes the final chapter very relevant for this time of year.
Judy Watson's detailed drawings really bring the stories to life offering adventures in themselves and invite the young reader to use their own imagination to put themselves in Hazel's position and make up their own story. What will she tell her friends when she comes back from that first day?
Barbara Braxton
Harry and Gran bake a cake by Fiona McIntosh and Sara Acton
Readers will laugh out loud as they watch the mishaps that occur when Harry helps Gran bake a cake. All children will have had some experience in the kitchen and will be greatly amused seeing their efforts reflected in the wonderful illustrations by award winning author, Sara Acton, complementing the assured, expressive words by Fiona Macintosh. The two work together well, reinforcing the sound relations between a grandparent and their grandchildren.
Harry is sent to the recipe book to find a cake he would like, and then Gran passes all the ingredients down to Harry from the pantry. All appears to be ready, but they need eggs. Gran finds a carton but in turning to place them on the bench with the other ingredients slips over the cat and the eggs go flying. Gran is a pretty sight with egg over her face. They measure out the ingredients needed for the cake, but Gran cannot find her glasses. Together they search the kitchen until Harry finds them in the most obvious of places. It is time to use the Mixmaster to put everything together. And here another problem emerges as Gran puts the flour into the bowl, without first turning the machine off. The kitchen has a fog of flour, but eventually the cake is in the tin and placed into the oven. Now comes the best bit, tasting the mixture left in the bowl as two sets of fingers scrape out a bit of the mix that remains. Dishes are washed as the pair wait for the oven timer to ring.
The cake is turned out of the tin to cool on the wire rack and Gran collects the things needed for the icing.
The icing sugar is quite high, but with an extra effort, Gran manages to tip it over and it falls to the floor, covering the cat with sugar. Of course, the last page shows a delightful image of Gran and Harry eating a slice of the cake, and I could almost smell the chocolate.
Each time Gran does something that Harry can see will end badly, he calls out ‘Watch out Gran,’ and younger children will repeat and predict that line when reading the book.
Kids will love reading this tale of the close relationship between a grandparent and a child, recalling loving times spent with their own grandparents. The ingredients are well spaced, giving kids a model for a plan of action, and the procedure for making the cake is shown sequentially, which will make it easy for younger readers to follow. I can imagine lots of households and classes trying the recipe after reading the book, especially as the recipes are given on the end papers. The directions are easy to follow, the illustrations giving a lovely backdrop to the story, including a few traps to avoid when venturing into the kitchen.
Transit Lounge, 2025. ISBN: 9781923023314. (Age:Adult, young adult) Recommended.
It is 2000 and Jess is working as a judge’s personal secretary at the United Nations Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Hague. The biggest trial since Nuremberg, they are there to bear witness to the murder of 8000 Muslim men and boys by the Bosnian Serb army in 1995. General Lieutenant Radislav K. is on trial. For Jess, it is a temporary position but a step up from the night-time typing pool in Sydney where she had been working since her divorce. After working with her barrister husband, managing his practice she now finds herself overqualified and overlooked at 50. Proud of her independence, having left her Lismore cane farming home at 15, Jess is ever thankful to the finishing school where she learned shorthand and how to behave in social situations from her mentor Eleanor. She is focused and capable, regarding “output a measure of self-worth’, and the love of her life is her son Daniel. Conscientiously she listens to the witness accounts, actual examples of which are interleaved in the text, and while the harrowing stories of families torn apart make her own traumas seem trivial, she finds herself drawn sympathetically to the accused who looks to her like a good person. Jess settles into the routine of the tribunal in its orderly, clinical room, making notes for her judge as witnesses relate their experiences through translators. She meets Gus, the security guard who tells dad jokes and doesn’t ask too much of her and together they see some of the sights of the Netherlands. She meets up with Merjem, one of the women with links to Srebrenica who has come to watch the trial, and she learns more about the personal side of the genocide. Jess tries to measure her own life, her unstable mother who was unable to show love; the way she created an efficient life for herself until the birth of her son and her feelings of loss of control but unconditional love for him; against the backdrop of people who could take young boys from the arms of their mothers and march them off to their deaths. When she is called back to Australia Jess seems able to develop a different perspective on life. Like Helen Garner’s This House of Grief we are taken into a courtroom for a privileged view of proceedings and hear the testimony of witnesses, but this is more personal and reflective. The third part seemed disconnected to the main story and the ending a little rushed and trite but there is much to recommend in the main character’s reflection and introspection as she learns to inhabit herself against a backdrop of such intense suffering. The Note on the Sources at the end would be useful for anyone wanting to know more.
Themes War crimes, The Hague, Bearing witness, Personal reflection.
Sue Speck
Frog, Log and Dave almost save the day! by Trent Jamieson. Illus. by Brent Wilson
Penguin, 2025. ISBN: 9781761347061. (Age:5+)
The Tricycles rock band features Frog, the Queen of guitar shredding, Log on vocals and Dave the dog on bass. The band have Excalivan, which Frog, the D.I.Y mechanic keeps on the road. Their devoted fan Jeremy the pigeon is always there to help out but also loves his job writing toothbrush instructions. When the band need to find a better paying job and earn enough to replace their instruments which are struck by lightning, they turn Excalivan into a delivery vehicle. FLD Deliveries first customer, Count Evil von Evil, is prepared to pay a huge amount just to have a ticking parcel delivered to the Town Hall. Disaster is narrowly avoided when Jeremy, who has recently completed a six-week online course in disarming pollutobombs, saves the day.
The cartoons are colourful and dynamic with bold black outlines and lots of action. The main characters had very limited expressions, especially Log, and plucky little Jeremy was the only one with real character development but this is a simple, fun, easy to read and nicely produced.
Themes Adventure, Courage, Friendship.
Sue Speck
The big backyard plan by Kirsten Ealand. Illus. by Laura Stitzel
Four friends, Jack, Bree, Theo and Azumi live side by side, their fences meeting a point where they can all talk together. They swim in one yard, skate in the next one, while they can help with the vegetable patch in one and feed the chickens in another. They loved their neighbourhood, but to reach their houses they had to walk around the block to the next street. So, someone had the idea of building gates. On the way home from school they began to plan and soon came the idea of one big backyard. They made plans to present to their parents, showing that there could be a bigger hen house and more space for vegetable gardens. They thought up reasons to give their families to bring them to their points of view. They watched as their parents discussed the idea over the fence, bringing up even more reasons to take down the old fences and share their yards. One day they all worked together and pulled down the old fences. The parents were still a little perplexed, and suggested they wait a month before making a decision. But the end of the month came and went, a new bigger hen house was built, wattle trees planted to help the native bees, and a handball court made.
This delightful story about the power of children to suggest and implement change, underpins the theme of climate change and the things that can be done in your own backyard. The children are eager to be able to see each other without the big walk around the block and look closely at what they could achieve if the fences were not there. This prompted the adults to see what could be done, and the more they thought about it, the more positive outcomes could be seen.
Charming illustrations cover each page, full of movement and interest as the children remain front and centre as the power behind the changes. Readers will love seeing what each backyard offers the children, and the differences the one big backyard makes for them. I loved seeing adults being part of the solution and their efforts to support the children, as they find themselves able to communicate more easily and establish relationships which will serve home well. This is a soft plea for a future in which people work together to make their families more able to cope with climate change. And readers will be able to offer their own ideas about what they would include if their backyard was fences.
Simon & Schuster, 2025. ISBN: 9781761428432. (Age:16+) Recommended.
Michelle Prak knows how to press all the triggers of female fear: the escaped criminal, the psycho stalker, the sleazy stepfather-type abuser, the night-time thugs, drunken party guys, and now even vicious out-of-control teenagers. All of these elements combine to make her latest book an adrenaline pumping thriller that keeps adding on layers of potentially erupting violence. The chapters are short, switching between three female points of view, building the tension until the dramatic conclusion.
Laying the groundwork for this story is the theme of homelessness and the desperation of people trying to find somewhere safe to live. It is a scenario that for many young people is only too familiar, the competition for rental places, the scarcity of accommodation options, and rising rent costs. For Mac, it means couch-surfing, testing the patience of friends, until the discovery of an abandoned half-built resort offers a temporary reprieve. But then the real challenges begin.
I felt completely drawn into this novel. It is as scary as her previous novel The rush. There are a number of distracting red herrings, issues that could have had further exploration, but in the end it’s another tense ride for readers of mystery thrillers, with a surprising but satisfying conclusion.
This wonderful pop-up book will be eagerly sort after, especially starring the hungry caterpillar, a character loved since first appearing in 1969!
The hungry caterpillar is just an egg on the leaf as the book is opened, while a lift-up flap shows the rising sun which allows the egg to hatch one very hungry caterpillar. Turning over the page we come across some familiar looking fruit, apples, pears, plums strawberries, and oranges, all with a hole eaten out of them. On that page, numbers one to five are reprised with the fruit, but over the page, we find that the caterpillar is sampling a lot of different things, leaving a hole in the midst of each: these include a piece of cake, an ice cream, a lollipop, and a slice of watermelon. And that night he does not feel very well. Children will be delighted with the little flap which shows his distressed state.
Over the page, he has retreated back to eating leaves, and again we see a lot of holes eaten. The caterpillar is getting bigger all the time. When the time is right, he builds himself a cocoon where he stays for about two weeks, until he nibbles a hole in the end and emerges as something completely different. I can hear the wows of the children when they turn that last page, marveling at the lite cycle of this little caterpillar. This book is a beautiful, engrossing introduction to the natural world for eager little fingers, keen to lift the flaps and marvel at their environment.
Eric Carle died in 2021, but his legacy lives on with a new range of books to delight the younger reader.
Alma is tall, and so basketball is her sport. She is the classic ‘middle child’ - so ironically is overlooked, but it is in the pursuit of the purple-bellied parrot that she stands out. On a family bird watching activity, she makes a rare sighting of a bird that has not been seen for 32 years, but without corroboration it leads her to an impossible task of proving that her word counts as truth. Friends, family, teachers and birdwatchers generally are curious and in two minds about her experience. Can she be trusted? What should she do to encourage them to believe her? Alma is at that pre-teen age when friends and reputations are important, and she is at risk of losing both! This is a fun ‘tall tale’, the second in the series. Alma is quirky, a little prone to weaving truth into knots to justify poor choices and yet is remarkably likeable. Her poor decisions are immediately obvious to readers but not to Alma and we must follow her discomfort throughout the book. She has amazing friends, the obligatory teasers or mean-girl associates, teammates who are accommodating (after all she is very tall and can influence the result of a game), and the usual struggles with family members.
This is a great book for readers aged 9-13, but I loved it too! This perhaps is slightly coloured by my experience of knowing birders and twitchers and their passions (I have even been a semi-reluctant bird spotter myself), but even without a personal knowledge of the quirky world of Birding, this is a fun story.There are a smattering of amusing cartoon-style illustrations through the book and some very funny moments, as well as the insights into pre-teen experience, making poor choices, stretching the truth and being distrusted and how this impacts a child’s wellbeing. The story is written with a tongue-in-cheek style from the perspective of Alma and will be a great book to put in the hands of pre-teen girls. With perhaps a hint of the quirkiness of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, this is a series that will be a winner with young readers.
Themes Birdwatching, Basketball, Pre-teens, Truth and lies, Friendship.
Carolyn Hull
The thylacine and the time machine by Renee Treml
Allen & Unwin, 2025. ISBN: 9781761181184. (Age:8+) Highly Recommended.
Violet has a school assignment to finish over a weekend focussed on the extinction of the Tasmanian Tiger or Thylacine as we discover they prefer to be called. This graphic novel is a great fun read and could almost be non-fiction as it has a lot of informative and real educational information. Renée Trell does what she does best writing fun informative and engaging graphic novels with a guest appearance by Sherlock Bones.
Violet has been working hard on her assignment and is all alone in the room except for her dog Tassie, when she is visited by the ghost of a thylacine who is determined to educate her on all things, Thylacine. In the process Violet is taken back to the past when thylacines roamed Tasmania and learns how they supported the natural world in ensuring that the populations of small marsupials were kept in balance with other flora and fauna. They then travel to a lab where they meet a scientist who discusses her work and how science is helping other endangered species.
The graphic novel follows the characters into the future before landing back in front of the computer that Violet is doing her project on. This book will appeal to children who like graphic novels and learning about the natural world. It will also appeal to students with a scientific interest in extinction with a bit of Jurassic Park thrown in the mix. This is an informative and engaging graphic novel that could be used for science and discussions around extinction, DNA extraction from fossils and taxidermy specimens, and the environmental impacts of humans.
I really enjoyed reading this and found the information to be informative and done in such a way that students would be able to engage with it particularly like when Violet says 'I want to know more but I need it in language I understand'. This is a great example for students to show that it’s okay to ask for simplified information when they don’t understand. This is a fabulous book that I can see becoming a favourite within school libraries and on home library shelves, for confident independent readers as there is a lot of information in the margins and footers.
Frog Squad: Sink or Swim is an exciting treasure hunt presented as an episode on a TV show. It is ideal for young readers 6 plus and includes engaging illustrations throughout. Expect plenty of playful puns that keep things froggy, and ‘ad breaks’ that include a humorous play on TV advertising!
Although this is the third instalment in the series, the introduction provides sufficient recap and background for it to be enjoyed as a standalone adventure. Join the Frog Squad, a team of frogs residing on a high-tech floating base called the Lily Pad, which transports them to various locations. Discover fascinating facts about different frog species and marine life – the Captain, for example, is a Green Tree Frog, while the Professor is a Titicaca Water Frog.
The Professor needs the help of the Frog Squad, which takes them on a journey to the Bermuda Triangle in search of an ancient shipwreck treasure, a priceless pearl. The Professor has invented special Frogvision goggles that allows them to see long distances, descending to the ocean floor in a special mini submarine called the Sea Pickle.
When the Professor gets lost in the Sea Pickle, it’s up to the Frog Squad to rescue them and race against time. Along the way, they encounter their rivals, the Toads, and a madcap battle ensues, complete with ping-pong balls and jelly.
The adventure also includes valuable lessons about the environmental impact of plastic in our oceans and looking after our natural environment. Young readers who enjoyed the humour of Kate Temple's The Under Dogs books and her picture book, Bin Chicken, will love this instalment of the Frog Squad series.
Allen & Unwin, 2025. ISBN: 9781761180644. (Age:4+) Highly recommended.
Claire Saxby’s Volcano is a captivating picture book that brings the power and wonder of underwater volcanic eruptions to life and shares factual information about their role in shaping our planet. With a vivid, informative and engaging text, along with stunning illustrations by Jess Racklyeft, this book takes young readers deep beneath the ocean’s surface to witness and explore how the underwater eruption reshapes the seabed and influences the surrounding marine and terrestrial ecosystem.
Saxby’s writing is both informative and lyrical, making complex geological processes understandable and interesting for young readers. She cleverly balances scientific facts with expressive storytelling, drawing readers into the exciting world beneath the ocean’s surface. The book not only explains how volcanoes form and erupt but also highlights the ripple effects on marine and coastal life. Readers will discover how volcanic activity creates new habitats, influences the delicate balance of nature and contribute to the Earth's ever-changing landscape; forming mountains, ridges and islands over time.
Racklyeft’s illustrations are a visual feast, filled with bright, vibrant colours and intricate details that perfectly complement the text. Each page bursts with movement and energy, helping to depict the immense power of the eruption and its impact on the underwater world. The artwork adds depth and excitement, even including a gatefold to a large volcanic eruption, ensuring extra excitement and engagement for young readers.
Perfect for curious minds, Volcano is an excellent introduction to earth science and marine ecosystems. It is ideal for classroom discussions, nature lovers and aspiring young scientists. With its blend of fascinating facts, lyrical language and breathtaking illustrations, Volcano is a must-read for children eager to explore the dynamic forces that shape our planet.
