The Colours of Nature by Catherine Barr. Illus. by Chaaya Prabhat

Nature books full of unique animals and plants from land, sea and sky are very popular with children. When the information and images are divided into colourful sections, the interest is piqued even more. The Colours of Nature is a striking non-fiction book that will be sure to engage a new audience.

With a handy contents page at the beginning, the first chapter looks at how the colours living things see are formed using a clever diagram to enable understanding. The following chapters are broken into colours with an array of creatures and plants, clearly labelled with some accessible facts to read and share. On a double page spread after each colour is discussed, further information is given about specific aspects of nature. For example, mentioned on one of the green pages is information about algal bloom and how it poisons huge number of sea life - very relevant for South Australian readers in 2025. In the pink section is information about the Boto, freshwater dolphins of the Amazon River who are born grey but turn pink as they grow. These dolphins are endangered due to the poisonous metal mercury used by gold mines polluting the freshwater. Throughout the book are fascinating facts about colours such as blue being one of nature’s most mysterious colours and that orange used to be known as yellow-red and the word ‘orange’ was first used to describe a fruit before it was used as a colour word.

This book is both a fascinating and interesting read, using colourful and vibrant images to complement the informative text. It must be noted that the Australian koala mentioned on the grey colour pages is incorrectly labelled as a koala bear. The author does however mention in the information below the koala’s image that it is not a bear but a marsupial.

Themes: Colours, Nature, Animals, Plants, Scientific Facts, Climate Change, Environmental Damage.

Kathryn Beilby