Here is a list of books that I have worked on (all as author unless otherwise stated) and that have been published or republished, organised by year of publication from 2018 to 2022; it’s still a work in progress but I’m about 80% there. I’ll do earlier years in due course; I’ve been writing for more than 23 years, so it may take a while!
2022
Hidden Habitats: Earth
Part of the Small Worlds series (see below)
This beautifully illustrated lift-the-flap book lets children explore small habitats in nature up close.
The smallest areas of the natural world can contain a diverse web of life. Peel back leaves on the forest floor, peer over a clifftop and into a desert canyon, travel to an oasis in the Sahara Desert, climb a towering Brazil nut tree in a rain forest, and visit four more land-based habitats. What creatures will you discover?
In this richly illustrated lift-the-flap book, young nature enthusiasts can get up close and personal with the wonders found in eight very different terrestrial ecosystems. This books was planned, researched and written by me, and the illustrations are by Lara Hawthorne. Published by Big Picture Press.
There are Mammals Everywhere
Part of the There are… series, see below. Despite what the publisher blurb says, below, the content of the book was planned, researched and written by me and Britta Teckentrup provided the illustrations.
There are mammals everywhere! Some of them clamber through the canopy, others scuttle through the undergrowth, and some even travel underground.
There are Mammals Everywhere is the fifth and final in a series of non-fiction books from Britta Teckentrup. Young readers will learn where in the world all sorts of mammals can be found and all the weird and wonderful things about them that they never imagined were true.
With an added search-and-find element, this is non-fiction with spark and personality from a much-loved illustrator for ages 7+.
First Rainforest Book
From Miles Kelly Publishing:
Children can set off on a thrilling rainforest expedition with the help of stunning contemporary artwork and simple, engaging text. Discover which animals swing through the treetops, what lurks in the river, and why rainforests are in danger. Extra fun facts are highlighted, and a practical activity on every spread encourages reader interaction. Also included is a rainforest layers wall poster that helps children learn about the four levels of a rainforest and what happens in each one.
2021
My First Book of Weather
A beautifully illustrated book to accompany My First Book of Nature, which was published by Templar in 2018. Currently available in hardback with illustrations by Cinyee Chiu.
Split into four clear sections on: What is Weather?, Changing Weather, World Weather and Extreme Weather, discover how storm clouds form, why we have seasons, how seaweed can tell us what the weather will be, why fish and frogs sometimes fall from the sky and much more. There’s a bird to spot in every scene for an added element of fun.
Includes 4 tear-out wipe-clean spotting cards, ideal for using on a nature walk or in the garden to encourage a sense of adventure, and a glossary of weather words.
Bright, engaging and fun, this is the perfect package of inspiration to spark a little one’s interest in the great outdoors. Split into four clear sections: Plants, Bugs, Birds and Animals, plus a glossary at the back, discover how seeds grow, why some bugs are stripy, how penguins live, why chameleons change colour and much more. Jane Newland’s charming illustrations are accompanied by carefully written text for young readers. There’s a ladybird to spot in every scene for an added element of fun.
Includes 4 tear-out wipe-clean spotting cards, ideal for using on a nature walk or even just in the garden and encouraging a sense of adventure.
Wow! Forests
The latest in the hugely popular Wow! series published by Kingfisher. See below for more in the series.
Series: Magic Magnifying Glass – Animal Homes and Dinosaurs
Published by QED Publishing these books take the reader through a journey of discovery, using their magic magnifying glass to peer deep into the mysterious lives of animal homes and dinosaurs.
Series: Easy reader
A new series of easy-to-read books in development and due for publication in autumn 2021.
2020
My Big Book of Adventure
Five “brilliantly creative” stories whisk readers off on a series of adventures around the world, through time and even into outer space. Fascinating information and rhyming riddles provide clues and activities, and the big illustrated scenes are crammed with inventive details to spot. Each story has its own checklist of characters to look out for and a map where readers can chart their journey. This book is published by Miles Kelly and it’s a compilation of the Adventure books I’ve written in the past few years (see The Great T Rex Adventure, On the Trail of the Whale (shortlisted for the English 4-11 Picture Book Awards) and Where’s the Bear, below).
Big Builds: Planet Earth and Big Builds: Ocean
Part of a series produced by Tall Tree Books for Quarto. Each book comes with its own beautifully crafted creation. Not yet published.
Come Closer if you Dare!
Animal Predators up close – a fun book with incredible photos published by Quarto Children’s Books. This is to be published in the US and although completed, I don’t have a copy of the front cover yet. But it will be scary I expect!
Series: Global Issues
Hazardous Habitats and Endangered Animals is part of a series that helps explain some of the current environmental issues that children are concerend with. This title explains how the natural world is changing and the impact this has on the future of our wildlife, and gives ideas for how the Greta Generation can help protect their world. Published by Carlton Welbeck.
A to Z of Ocean Life
Series: Pocket Edition 100 Facts
Updated and released in a new, smaller format, these books are bursting with 100 incredible facts, fabulous photos and artworks. Published by Miles Kelly Publishing.
The Great T Rex Adventure
The Great T rex Adventure is a “big, beautiful and brilliantly creative” story that takes children aged 5+ on an adventure through prehistoric time.
Curious Questions and Answers about Plants
“Quirkily illustrated characters and playful text reveal the amazing answers inside this fascinating book.” Find out which plants stink of rotting socks, how tall bamboo can grow in a day, and how plants defend themselves from attack. This is part of the successful Curious series, see 2019 books for more information.
Project Bugs
Project Bugs is an interactive, illustrated non-fiction book, ideal for curious learners aged 7+. Encouraging creativity, fun projects will help children investigate different types of bugs, how they live and how they survive. With endless activities, flaps to lift and an exciting fold-out centre page, children will enjoy discovering the secret life of bugs.
Project Earth
Project Earth takes a hands-on approach to learning about planet Earth, in enormous depth, from the Earth’s inner core to its outer atmosphere.
- 11 projects to try, including recreating the Big Bang, generating static electricity and creating tornadoes in a bottle
- Packed with flaps to lift and a centre fold-out page which creates an immersive learning experience
My First Dinosaur Book
I was the consultant for this book by Barbara Taylor, for Miles Kelly Publishing.
Series: In Focus Dinosaurs
These four books were created from a compendium of dinosaurs. Four key themes were identified to produce the books and the text was updated, revised and rewritten where necessary. Currently available in the UK in a library binding.
There are Animals Everywhere!
There are animals everywhere! Some of them live in jungles, some of them in the savannah, and some may be in your back garden… this series from Big Picture Press covers Bugs, Fish, Reptiles, Birds and Mammals. I was the consultant for the first two titles and have written the latter three; all are now available. The illustrator is Britta Teckentrup.
Small Worlds: Earth
Look at what happens under the leaf litter in a forest, find out what lives in a single desert oasis, examine the top of a Brazil nut tree in the Amazon and much more.
What will you find when you explore these small worlds? Prepare to be surprised by the variety of life on each page of this gorgeous lift-the-flap book. Published by Big Picture Press and illustrated by Lara Hawthorne.
What’s Wrong in the Wild?
Detailed full spread scenes each feature five out-of-place or ‘wrong’ things to find. Lively text provides facts and clues as well as key information about the wrong… and the right things included in the scenes. Designed to challenge your children and push them to work things out for themselves, they’ll also be encouraged to think about where the ‘wrong’ things do belong. Published by QED Publishing, I was the consultant for this book which was written by Catherine Veitch and illustrated by Fermin Solis.
Undercover Animals
Make the chameleon change colour with the sparkly two-way sequins on the cover. Then see if you can spot all the real- life undercover animals hiding inside! This book of amazing camouflaged creatures shows off the animal kingdom’s sneakiest tricksters. Test yourself to see if you can find the hidden animal in each photograph, then turn the page to discover more about them
Series: Ladybird and BBC Earth Reader books
This is a series of reader books produced by Ladybird using BBC Earth images. The carefully levelled text covers various science topics, for a variety of reading levels. As an experienced literacy teacher who specialises in teaching reading (phonics and comprehension) this project was right up my street!
Wild about Fierce Creatures
“Bursting with information and stunning pictures, this fascinating book explores the wild world of killer creatures. Engaging text is presented in bitesize paragraphs, and feature panels provide cool facts, cartoons, quizzes and activities.” Meet the world’s largest meat-eating animal, find out how secretary birds kill snakes by stamping their feet, and discover which small, shy mammal has a deadly elbow. Steve Parker and Barbara Taylor also contributed.
Wild about Oceans
Take a journey through the worlds oceans and find out about the remarkable creatures that inhabit the deepest waters, why coral reefs teem with life, and the importance of our seashores. “This brilliant book is bursting with fantastic information, detailed illustrations and stunning photographs. Simple and engaging text is presented in bite-size paragraphs, while feature panels provide fun facts, cartoons, quizzes and activities.”
2019
Expandable Explorations: Wild World
Go inside five amazing animal habitats around the world in this giant pull-out guide. Study an animal environment, peer through die-cut windows to more animals inside, then slide the large format page extenders and get a whole new perspective on life in the wild. Habitats include: the Amazon rainforest, the Great Barrier Reef, a North American Forest, the Arctic and the African savanna. Each scene is brought to life with amusing illustrations that show in detail how animals live. Multi-layered geographical information on similar habitats around the world add to the wonderfully lively scenes.
How Curious are You?
Series: Curious Questions
This series was developed from an idea with Miles Kelly editors and it has grown into a great collection – Curious Questions and Answers about Saving the Planet is now on the United Nations’ Development Goals Book Club list! There are more in the series, written by other authors (not shown), and some of mine listed here were actually published in 2018.
Cutest Baby Animals Ever
Cute animal babies have been a big theme for a series of books I’ve been writing for Quarto for a number of years. Of all of them, I love Baby Animals has been the most successful and it has been borrowed from British libraries alone 18,000 times so far (as of 2022). There have also been cute babies, cute jungle babies, forest babies, enchanting cuties, farm babies, itsy-bitsy cuties, snow babies, snow pals, cute kittens, cute puppies, water babies, animal babies that love their mum, animal babies that love their dad, animals that love kisses and those that love a hug! Many of these are developed for the US market and foreign language market (sometimes for Scholastic) and as a consequence are unavailable in the UK. However, they are the books I get most queries about from readers, their parents and their grandparents, who are desperate to get hold of copies. Often, the child falls in love with one of these books after borrowing it from a library, and they are desperate to own their own copy. Who can blame them when the photos are so cute? I don’t have copies of many of these myself, and don’t have images for most of the covers, but here are a few….Picture researching for these books is one of my favourite pastimes. While Cutest Jungle Animals Ever was published this year (sorry, no image yet), the others span back about eight years I reckon.
The Book of Animal Superheroes
Discover real-life stories of animals who have achieved the most heroic or astounding feats, and tons of fascinating animal facts – from dogs, cats and rabbits to birds, whales and insects. Published by Buster Books.
A fascinating combination of true-life tales of heroic animals and information on incredible topics such as animal senses, intelligence, communication and the importance of animal conservation.
Included are the heart-warming stories of Mari the Japanese Shiba Inu who saved her puppies and human owner from the destruction of an earthquake, Digit the gorilla whose brave actions highlighted the importance of gorilla conversation worldwide, Lin Wang the war elephant who became a national hero and so many more.
A real highlight of this gorgeous book is the stunning artwork of David Dean, whose paintings bring drama and atmosphere to every scene, and a foreword by television presenter and veterinarian Jess French.
Series: Lifecycles
A series of books about lifecycles for younger readers. These are updated, revised editions of a series that first appeared some time ago and have been extremely popular. They are Amazon Bestsellers.
Biocreations Oceans and Biocreations Jungles
Oceans: Explore the world oceans and create your own model of the coral reef.
Jungles: Trek through the diverse jungles of the world, and spot the wondrous species that call these forests home. Discover the variety of each group, and learn about how humans are impacting them. Then get hands-on and create your very own free-form sculpture of a jungle tree. Includes 139 press-out model pieces.
Both these books were written and produced for Quarto in the US.
Get Set Go!
A series of interactive science activity books published as part of a much larger educational scheme by Miles Kelly Publishing for Key Stage One. I was the consultant for these four books, which were written by a science teacher, checking for accuracy and helping with reworking the text where required. Seasons and Weather, Plants, Changing Materials, Animal Life.
Series: Wow!
A lovely, colourful series from Kingfisher. We developed this series to present those ‘wow’ facts that thrill young readers, while packing in plenty of learning with lovely artworks by illustrator Steven Johnson. The latest book, Forests, was published in 2021. I wrote these four books and was the consultant for the fifth, Wow Dinosaurs, which was written by Jacqueline McCann.
Small Worlds: Water (consultant)
Small Worlds: Earth (author)
Explore watery habitats on a small scale. This first board book was written by Lily Murray and illustrated by Lara Hawthorne and I was commissioned as a consultant to go through the text and artworks to check for scientific accuracy. I was then commissioned to write the second book in the series: Small World: Earth which was also illustrated by Lily Murray. Published by Big Picture Press.
Fierce Creatures Series: Run Reptile and Swim Shark
Open this book and you’re presented with three different reptiles and this question: which reptile would you sit and watch, view from afar or which would make you run for your life? The choice is yours, but choose carefully. . . . This book is packed with fascinating facts about reptiles presented as a guessing game. Readers will learn about many different types of these scaly creatures while using their logic to decide which reptiles are harmless and which are best to avoid! Published by QED Publishing. These editions are the library format but the paperback format came with little reptile or shark toys. The latest in the series focuses on fierce creatures with terrible teeth, but it’s not been published yet.
Pop Inside Jungle Homes
A pop-up book of jungle habitats. I was the consultant/fact-checker for this book which is to be published by Templar Books in summer 2021.
Living Planet
“Living Planet is a perfect addition to any home or school library – it is packed with high impact imagery and information tailored to a Key Stage 2 reader.” Published by Carlton Welbeck.
Watch incredible videos that play on the page with the free augmented reality app – see a volcano erupt, watch the plants and animals of the rainforest, follow in the footsteps of a storm chaser, and see right to the Earth’s core in this unmissable exploration of the amazing world we live in.
Explore nature in all its glory, from the formation of the Earth and prehistoric life to the varied habitats of our world today. Discover what our planet is made of, and how humans have made an impact on Earth’s changing climate. Look out for Living Ocean, out soon.