I learned a new word today, cryptid, an animal that some people believe is real but whose existence isn’t backed up by strong evidence. There is so much fun stuff to learn from exploring Unreal, Can you tell fact from fake?
Kate Simpson is a picture book author and bookworm who loves fact and fiction in equal measure. Previous titles include Ouch!, a book about gravity and Anzac Girl, the true story of Sister Alice Ross-King, who sailed to war in December 1914 and became the most decorated woman in Australia. Leila Rudge has written and illustrated over 15 children’s books, including the CBCA Honour Book Gary and the CBCA short-listed Winston and the Indoor Cat. Together they have created a enticing read for everyone but particularly for children aged 7 to 10.
In Unreal animals from myths and legends and the natural world are mixed up and the reader is challenged to sort out what’s real from what’s not. It is a tempting and engaging formula that encourages children to think carefully, to question motives and memory, and above all to consider the available evidence.
Is the Mongolian death worm that spits acid and discharges electricity real or unreal? What about the vampire squid, the dreaded Australian drop bear and do flocks of Moroccan goats really climb high in the argan trees munching on their fruit?
We know that sorting fact from fiction is a useful skill for all readers to aquire as early as possible. This book with its tantalizing topics, its brief descriptive texts accompanying the engaging illustrations will keep children engaged and learning for hours. It’s a book to explore, to delve into and to share.
The book’s 64 pages cover predators, megafauna, healing powers, hoaxes and jokesters, reptiles, fish, plants and fungi and more, all carefully explained by Kate and illustrated in watercolour and coloured pencil by Leila with a full page index at the back. Truth is sorted from fiction but the importance of myth is not discounted summed up by ‘fiction is a way for storytellers all across the globe to talk about what it means to be human.’
I learned a new word today, cryptid, an animal that some people believe is real but whose existence isn’t backed up by strong evidence. There is so much fun stuff to learn from exploring Unreal, Can you tell fact from fake?
