Liam the Chid and the Kangaroo Warriors by Meredith Downes

Title: Liam the Chid and the Kangaroo Warriors
Author/illustrator: Meredith Downes
Publisher: Bugalugs Books
Publication date: 31 August 2025
Price (AUD): $18.99 
Page numbers: 250 pages
Genre: children’s fiction (ages 8-12)
Synopsis: Liam is an echidna destined for trouble. A fierce fire inside him makes him do strange things…crazy things! Like standing up to the wicked Goanna Gang, something no other echidna has ever dared before. But when Liam learns he must find the kangaroo warriors and learn their secret fighting arts, he knows it’s the craziest thing he’s done yet! Can he make it all the way to the Roo Plains? Will the Roos really help him or just crush him into tiny pieces? Does he even have what it takes to become a toothless warrior? Find out in Liam the Chid and the Kangaroo Warriors…

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Liam the Echidna is always in trouble. He’s meant to be calm and stay out of the way of people in a world where each animal has their own little areas or countries. Yet, when the Goanna Gang comes into Boggy Hollow and takes over, Liam feels a fire inside. A fire that makes his mum worry about him and insist he is sick. Until Liam decides to find the kangaroo warriors. But can he make it all the way to Roo Plains with Unu and Flip, and will the kangaroos help him become the toothless warrior?

Liam is sure he can become a warrior, despite everyone trying to tell him he can’t. His first adventure takes him far from home, and into a dangerous and intriguing adventure. It’s filled with humour and challenges as Liam explores his new world in the start of this new series. Liam’s journey takes place at a time when it seems like no humans were around, just animals. Liam is lonely, and his journey is also about making friends and finding the people, or animals in this case, who will be there for you. Who will support you and gather behind you.

It’s an interesting story and hero’s quest or journey set against an Australian backdrop. Liam story is filled with bullying, something that a lot of people face throughout their lives. The bullying themes are important to explore because as something everyone can relate to, and they show readers that they can stand up to bullies and do something. It’s also about acceptance, diversity and equality. Liam lives in a world where division seems common and accepted. Like segregation, it’s just the way things are. Because nobody has ever lived with different animals, and they all live in their own areas. As the novel goes on, Liam’s world expands, a d we get to see how different animals live and react to the world.

The disparate sections of Liam’s world are a bit like different countries, and in some cases, they don’t really know about each other. These layers make it interesting and show how keeping to our own communities can be isolating when they don’t branch out or work to understand those around them. There’s a sense of meandering through much of the novel as Liam finds out there are places he needs to see to fix himself, or at least find out what is really going on and why he always feels the fire that the other echidna’s don’t really feel or understand.

It’s a good first book in the series, and sets things up well. As with any first in series, there are always unanswered questions or things that are hinted at. It means that there is space for things to be answered or resolved throughout the series. Seeing how Liam grew over the novel and made friends when he thought nobody would want to be his friend. At its heart, it is a novel about self-discovery and friendship in a uniquely Australian setting that will appeal to readers aged eight and over.