Billie Rooney (text) and Anke Noack (illustrator) Creature Corridors, CSIRO Publishing, February 2025, 32 pp., RRP $26.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781486318100
This CSIRO book looks at how wild animals have adapted to how human habitation and land clearing have encroached on their environments and how in turn, the ways people have started to build corridors to help them move safely between parcels of land. The book, using accessible language appropriate to the targeted aged range of 5-9, follows kangaroos, koalas, birds, fish, crabs, cassowaries and lizards as they travel around. Some use tunnels under roads. Some are metal, wooden or wire aerial bridges. Others are created by not drawing everything from a waterway. Others are wider vegetation areas alongside roads. And new technologies can be used to create virtual fences.
At the end of the book there is more detailed information about each of the double-page spreads, with the language more sophisticated and more appropriate for adults sharing the book with younger readers. This contrasts with the accessibility of the text in the main part of the book. The simple glossary is a useful addition.
Noack’s vibrant and detailed illustrations are suggestive of cartoons, with the animals partly anthropomorphized. I found this somewhat distracting in an information book. But many other readers will find this a great bonus, increasing the book’s accessibility.
Teaching notes can be found at the CSIRO website.
The book fills a gap in information about how humans and animals co-exist in our world. For this reason, it’s recommended.
Reviewed by Maureen Mann
