Leonard Cronin (text) and Chris Nixon (illustrator), Wild Australian Life, Allen & Unwin, April 2022, 64 pp., RRP $29.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781760637224
According to Leonard Cronin’s bio he is one of Australia’s foremost natural history authors. Trained as a biologist, he is a prolific writer of books and articles about the Australian flora, fauna and environment, bringing his own fascination with the natural world to the general reader. After reading Wild Australian Life this reader can attest Leonard’s bio is true. Wild Australian Life is a book of facts about Australian animals that doesn’t speak down to its young audience. It covers in quite astonishing detail a wide variety of Australian animals, birds and insects. From blue whales to the spinifex hopping mouse, animals of every shape, size and type are covered in this extraordinary text.
Each animal gets its time in the spotlight and the reader is encouraged to be curious about how the animal is built for its environment but also how it has adapted to its environment. The many creatures that are unique to Australia are celebrated and their talents, hidden or otherwise, are chronicled. For example, did you know that the thorny devil a lizard which lives in the driest parts of Australia looks fearsome but is actually quite harmless? To protect itself from predators it will drop its head between its front legs and present its attacker with a fat-filled double-spined hump – very unpleasant.
Cronin’s text is beautifully enhanced by Nixon’s illustrations. Nixon is also responsible for the artwork in The Bushfire Book, The Australian Climate Change Book and Pandamonia. The illustrations in Wild Australian Life have a lovely retro feel reminiscent of picture books from the 1960s. At first glance the illustrations appear quite simple but on closer inspection they include a level of detail that has the reader searching every element of the image. Finally, the muted colour palette is an interesting choice but one that works well to signal to the reader that this is serious content they are reading.
Together the illustrations and text add up to something greater than the sum of the individual parts. This book is a must for animal obsessed primary school aged children. An excellent classroom resource for guiding research and generating curiosity.
I highly recommend Wild Australian Life.
Reviewed by Anne Varnes
