Jevita Nilson (text) and Jess Racklyeft (illustrator), Our World Full of Wonder, CSIRO Publishing, November 2024, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 978-1-4863-1815-5
This narrative non-fiction picture book, aimed at readers aged 5-9, explores world environments and is a simple introduction to them. The book opens and closes with two figures floating in space and the question “Shall we go explore?” They visit twelve places which have specific geographic details towards the end of the book. The reader is told There is a place where … and then shown Arctic auroras, the Great Barrier reef, rainbow mountains, pink salt lakes, a black sand beach, a crystal cave, a valley with more than 500 species of wildflowers. What place on earth has the most lightning? Or the most waterfalls in one place? Or how about bioluminescence in the ocean?
Racklyeft’s watercolour illustrations are central to the book’s success. Each one is so different from the preceding and following pages keeping the reader’s interest.
There’s an acknowledgement that each location is fascinating but that there are many other extraordinary places, encouraging readers to find out more, and with the suggestion that at some time in the future the reader may be able to do their own exploration. There’s a brief glossary. Teaching notes are available at the publisher’s website.
Reviewed by Maureen Mann
