Bush Babies

Kim Dale (author/illustrator)

Lothian Press, Australia: 2003

ISBN: 0734405936

Genres: animals, factual text, information text, non-fiction, picture book, Science

Issues: ecology, environment

Shortlisted by the CBCA for the Eva Pownall Award for Information Books, 2004.

‘I'm not a koala nor a kangaroo but I've lived in a pouch just as they do...' As in her previous books (What Am I? and Eyes in the Dark), Dale uses simple rhymes and riddles to introduce the reader to various native animals.

Lift the flap and reveal the relevant bush baby. Double-page watercolour illustrations are at times so delicate as to be mistaken for silk painting. What is perhaps even more remarkable than the superb illustrations is the amount of information Dale manages to convey in each rhyme. ‘Ten eggs! Our mother's work was done. Then father hatched us, one by one,' and readers are introduced to the remarkable parenting habits of the Emu, for example.

Dale is also to be commended for a varied selection of ‘bush babies' that introduces younger readers to Australian fauna with which they may be less familiar - the Nail-tailed Wallaby, the Stripe-faced Dunnart, and the Lotus Bird chick, for example. A simple explanation of the three types of mammals - placental, marsupial and monotreme - is provided at the back of the book. Further notes are provided on each animal, including its latin name and a small map of Australia indicating where populations of that species may be found.

Children will love this and take great pride in learning to identify each of the animals from both the written clues and the superb images.

Highly recommended.

Kim Dale is a wildlife carer and passionate champion of Australian Wildlife.