Animals on Country: Let’s look after the animals with Uncle Kuu by Victor Steffensen, illustrated by Sandra Steffensen

Title: Animals on Country: Let’s look after the animals with Uncle Kuu

Author: Victor Steffensen, illustrated by Sandra Steffensen

Genre: Non-Fiction

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Published: 2^nd September 2025

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 32

Price: $24.99

Synopsis: This engaging picture book from award-winning brother-and-sister team Victor and Sandra Steffensen inspires children and adults alike to look after animals through Indigenous cultural practices.

‘For thousands of years, Aboriginal people looked after the land to keep it healthy, so there was plenty of food for the animals to eat.’

But today, the animals are wondering what has happened to the people. Trees have been cut down, land has been cleared and rivers have been polluted.

Join Uncle Kuu as he takes children out on Country to learn about the First Peoples’ traditions of caring for animals, and in turn, caring for Country.

By First Nations people and non-Indigenous Australians coming together, we can all be part of the animal world and help to look after the animals.

From the bestselling author of Fire Country comes this endearing picture book for children aged 5–10 years that celebrates the value of Indigenous knowledge in modern Australia.

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Looking after animals on Country has always been an important part of Indigenous cultural practices for thousands of years. In this latest picture book from Victor and Sandra Steffensen, a fantastic brother-and-sister duo, Uncle Kuu takes the children on a journey through Country to examine animal tracks throughout nature. He shows them what the tracks teach people, what they mean, and how First Nations People lived on the land.

It’s about caring for Country, and knowing what works to care for it, and understanding that the changes over the past 250 years or so have dramatically altered the relationship animals have with the land. And in turn, the relationships people have with the land and animals. It gives the animals a voice, a chance to speak about their confusion about what has happened. They want to know where the people have gone, why the trees have been cleared and what’s happening to the rivers.

As Uncle Kuu explores the land with his family, they learn, and the reader learns, what has happened. How drastic changes over the years have altered Country and animals dramatically. Of course, there are some things we can’t reverse. But change can be made, there are areas and places people can look after to help the animals and repair the land. To heal Country.

This is a story about unity, about working together and finding ways to look after Country. And shows that everyone can help look after animals. There are probably things that everyone can do, big and small, depending on what we have access to, or are capable of doing. It’s all about working together. Being part of something where we can make change, and help animals is for everyone. It’s about community and finding the people who will and want to work with you.

Books like this can speak to Indigenous and non-Indigenous readers, because they might use a universal issue framed within Indigenous concepts. It explains these concepts really well, and ensures that things are inclusive and joyful as it celebrates knowledge and sharing the knowledge that can be shared. The beauty about books like this for older readers is that they have so many applications and uses across school, education and the home. It can open up discussions, and show that the topics we think might be hard to talk about are easier than we think.

And, perhaps most importantly, it shows how important the environment and animals are to humanity and the world.