Allen & Unwin

August 2021

ISBN:9781760526085

Publisher: A&U Children’s

Imprint: A & U Children

RRP: $24.99

Idan Ben-Barak first came to my attention with Do Not Lick This Book, and, like so many others, I found it uproariously funny as well as a brilliant informational text for young readers. Certainly, the kiddos with whom I shared it voted it their favourite of that year.

What impresses me so immensely is that someone as technically knowledgeable and eminent in his chosen qualification/professional field can translate that into information so readily accessible to young children, who cannot help but learn through the medium of a picture book.

In this book, children are given an insight, in terms to which they can relate easily, to the beginnings of life on Earth, from a jumble of elements to one little bubble to highly evolved organisms. The text is accompanied by Philip Bunting’s -almost electric- vivid and quirky illustrations, with the repetition of circular shapes so perfectly echoing the concept of molecules.

This is an absolute joy, and I would love nothing better than to share it with some little humans and see where the ensuing discussions might take us.

Highly recommended for your readers from Prep upwards – and, of course, particularly appropriate in your science studies.