It’s no secret I love science and stories. The two aren’t so very different: they both rely on discovering new things, they both require wonder, and they both rock August, that mega-month when National Science Week and Children’s Book Week unite.

Cheryl Kickett-Tucker is no ordinary children’s author. Once a community newspaper sports journalist, now a research scientist, associate professor and, most importantly, a writer of children’s fiction, Cheryl’s stories appear in Bush and Beyond, a collection of Indigenous stories with tales from Tjalaminu Mia, Jessica Lister and Jaylon Tucker.

We have class sets of our free teaching activity; ‘Do you know your Aussie animals?’ available to order or download now. In the meantime, author Deb Fitzpatrick talks about her new novel, The Spectacular Spencer Gray, and why it features Australia’s most endangered mammal.

Cheryl Kickett-Tucker’s slightly spooky children’s book Barlay! has an important message for young kids.