Sticks and Stones, Animal Homes by Tai Snaith

Melbourne artist and author Tai Snaith has produced a beautiful, educational picture book that oozes with appeal. Covering similar ground to her highly successful Family Hour in Australia, the narrative journeys around the world to visit unusual animals and the unique homes they have created. From the Myanmar River turtle to the Australian bilby, the hermit crab to the honeybee, animals are lovingly drawn in their natural environment. Yet they are also sweetly anthropomorphised, such as the muskrat who wears a suit as he swims home to his modernist chair and violin, and the polar bears who read as they wait out the winter in their den. Kids will particularly enjoy animals such as the dung beetle, which makes its home out of poo and sometimes eats it too!

A facts page at the back provides more info on the habitat, location and lifespan of the animals for enquiring readers. This is a covetable picture book that will find a special place in many homes, human and otherwise.


Angela Crocombe