Nonfiction children’s titles on offer at Bologna

From Walker Books, I Wonder ‘explores how curiosity leads us to knowledge’ in a book by Philip Bunting, ‘the master of inviting us to ponder questions without definitive answers’. Other children’s nonfiction titles from Walker include John Larkin and Chrissie Kreb’s ‘hilarious, nonsensical and mischievous’ advice book How to Avoid Being Eaten By Sharks, and Pamela Freeman and Liz Anelli’s ‘immersive and vibrant’ Seed to Sky, which explores the canopy and undergrowth of Australia’s Daintree Rainforest.

Hardie Grant presents Life on Us, a ‘first-of-its-kind exploration of everything that lives on and in us, but is not us’ from explorer and scientist Tim Flannery. Jinyoung Kim and Sabina Patawaran’s The Anti-Racism Kit is described as an essential, comprehensive guide to dismantling racism, created especially for high school students, while Worms Are Our Friends (Toni D’Alia & Mimi Purnell) highlights the essential role these creatures play in nature.

A Is For Ability from Sarah Rose and Alley Pascoe is ‘a big-hearted guide to disability, full of letters, learnings and laughs from a disabled person to you’, according to publisher Hachette. Presented as a brightly illustrated picture book, it’s an A–Z of celebrating what makes each of us unique. Also from Hachette comes Let’s Meet by Jodi Rodgers and Kelvin Wong. Rodgers is the qualified counsellor and special education teacher who features as the relationship specialist on the Netflix series Love on the Spectrum, and her work is rendered into nonfiction graphic format by Wong, who appeared on the show and won hearts with his passion for manga, graphic novels and illustrations.

Finally, from Allen & Unwin comes the forthcoming Unreal (Kate Simpson, illus by Leila Rudge) for ages 7–10, in which there’s been a mix-up at the museum that kids will have fun sorting out—‘guessing which animals and plants are real and which are fake in this extraordinary exhibition of the strange and wonderful animals and plants that inhabit our world … and our imaginations’. Also from A&U comes Is My Phone Reading My Mind? by Dr Matt Agnew, which promises ‘the real facts about artificial intelligence’, including answers to questions such as, ‘What is an algorithm and can it help me choose pizza? Can ChatGPT do my homework? And when I watch TV, is my television watching me back?’; and Ultrawild (Steve Mushin), a ‘mind-bendingly original’ book containing over 100 ‘outrageously funny, scientifically plausible inventions for rewilding cities and saving the planet’, for ages 9+.

Category: Think Australian feature