Engaging reads for children, from Books go Walkabout

Tag: Happy Yak

The Secret Life of Birds by Moira Butterfield and Vivian Mineker

A beautiful book full of facts and information about birds in chunk size pieces. The introduction of each page are led by Speedy the Swift, who flies faster than the fastest race car between different places in the world.

Did you know birds find their way by following invisible pathways in the sky?

The Secret Life of Birds is a collection of stories and facts, providing a love of birds and nature to the next generation, inspiring them to look after the world around them.
Did you know birds navigate by invisible pathways in the sky, that they can call to each other in thousands of different ways and they can be as big as a car or as small as a little finger?

Read some beautiful bird folklore stories from around the planet, too. Speedy has learnt much on her travels and she will be a great guide and inspiration for young readers.

Fly with Swifts… Swift chicks do press-ups on their wingtips to make themselves stronger

But before we get carried away with thinking this book is just for young readers, delve into the pages yourself, you will be amazed. The many intriguing facts, such as the wings of swifts are so well designed that drones are built in a similar way.

Moira Butterfield, the author has created this book from the amazing success of The Secret Life of Bees and other books. She writes non-fiction/stories to spark a child’s imagination about our amazing world.

Vivian Mineker, the illustrator, lives in Amsterdam via Taipei, Portland and Ljubljana has designed and created visual images which are captivating and make the facts jump off the page.

Happy Yak is an imprint of Quarto Kids and has a wonderful portfolio of beautiful and inspirational books for young people.

But this book like others, reaches more than just the young people, it is a way of accessing information in chunky sizes which support learning and inspire imaginations.

Sue Martin Children’s Literacy Specialist

PS Just spotted another fact… did you know there is only one bird in the world that hibernates? Read p 35 to find out which bird!




 

The World’s Most Ridiculous (Marvellous) Animals by Philip Bunting

A quirky book with wonderful images and a title that I wished I had created! It is true that some animals may seem to us ridiculous, but adaptations and environment have made them what they are. How about the chameleon, who maybe just ‘can’t decide what to wear’! The illustrations have a true sense of ‘amazing and incredible’ and the text around them has two versions; one which is a comprehensive factual base and another which is expressive and intriguing.

‘Chameleons have prehensile tails (which means they can wrap around branches, giving them excellent balance in their tree top homes.’

To…‘Chameleons are big fans of Boy George’ (a reference to the colourful hair do!)

The second title in the series from the hilarious Philip Bunting is filled with facts about some of the weirdest creatures in the natural world.

The antagonist voice (speaking though cheeky annotations) points out the apparent ridiculousness of each creature’s features, while the narrator’s voice describe the evolutionary reasons or advantages for each animal’s extraordinary characteristics.

Ever heard of a Sea Sheep?


With hilarious text throughout and bright, contemporary illustrations, this guide to ridiculous animals contains funny labelled diagrams and will help teach kids about evolution by studying some of its most wild products!

Philip Bunting, the author and illustrator has some great titles to his name. He encourages a playful interaction between the child and reader( either themselves or someone else), and aims to inspire young children into reading and finding out as a source of fun and learning.

Philip Bunting

Since his first book was published in 2017 he is published in over 30 countries and has received multiple honours from Children’s Book Council of Australia( which is an organisation we at Books Go Walkabout are pleased to promote as we work with a number of Australian authors).

Happy Yak are a part of the Quarto Publishing Group for books for young children which are contemporary, engaging and entertaining as a way of supporting children’s learning and development.

I love this book, the style, content and superb quality of the actual book itself. It is going home with me for a while and I can find out more about ‘ridiculous animals’ and then Books Go Walkabout will donate to a local school.

Sue Martin

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