Peculiar Parents by Stephanie Owen Reeder, illustrated by Ingrid Bartkowiak

Title: Peculiar Parents

Author: Stephanie Owen Reeder, illustrated by Ingrid Bartkowiak

Genre: Non-Fiction

Publisher: NLA Publishing

Published: 1^st July 2025

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 60

Price: $29.99

Synopsis: Peculiar Parents introduces us to 60 Australian animal species, focusing on all things family – picking a mate, making a home, having babies, finding food and looking after one another.

You’ll meet parrots that play the drums and cuttlefish that can change colour, as well as dancing spiders, travelling turtles, kissing lizards, plonking pobblebonks and many more amazing Aussie animals.

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Peculiar Parents is the latest non-fiction picture book that explores a topic of great interest. Australia’s wildlife, whether they are in the seas, on land or in the skies, and the different ways they care for their young. It also looks at how these animals form their families, from mating to having babies and caring for them – or not, as is the case for some of the animals in this book.

From crabs to parrots, to clown fish, penguins and the marsupials like koalas and kangaroos, this book shows the many ways to parent in the wild. Because parenting in the wild can be and is a matter of survival, like when the quokka ejects its young from the pouch to distract predators. Or the red kangaroo, who can have two joeys at once, and can produce different kinds of milk for their needs. Some animals might have dad look after the eggs – emus do. Whatever makes these parents peculiar and unique helps their species adapt and survive.

This non-fiction picture book is engaging – Stephanie has written the text to be very accessible, capturing the information succinctly whilst maintaining an easy-to-read delivery of facts. It also doesn’t talk down to readers, and the underlined words are included in an awesome glossary at the back. This gives readers of all ages an excellent learning opportunity, and a chance to explore the world of Australian animals in a fun and exciting way.

Stephanie’s insightful information and collection of facts is accompanied by realistic and delightful illustrations by Ingrid Bartkowiak. These are presented in frames, like proper nature images, harkening back to the nineteenth century and nature illustrations for museums and books. Or, like Beatrix Potter would have done as a child as well. These illustrations make this book work well as a natural history book that seeks to teach people about things they might not know about.

Peculiar Parents captures the different styles of parenting in the animal world in Australia, showcasing that there is never one right way of being a parent. There are twenty categories across the sixty-page book, and each has three animals, and discusses what makes them peculiar in one paragraph. This introduction to these animals is perfect for curious children of all ages, and can encourage them to find out more about whichever animal they’re interested in. It’s a great starting point to explore biology and nature as well.

This is another interesting book from the publishing arm of the National Library of Australia, who always publish unique stories that give insight into the world around us in Australia.