Caution! This Book Contains Deadly Reptiles

Caution! This Book Contains Deadly Reptiles by Corey Tutt. Art by Ben Williams. Allen & Unwin 2025. Hardcover non-fiction RRP $32.99. ISBN 9781761181030.

Reviewed by Debra Williams

Deadly Science founder Corey Tutt describes this book as the ultimate children’s science book. It contains vibrant illustrations and cool facts about more than 60 reptiles, celebrating First Nations knowledge about animals found in the Country, from lizards to snakes to crocodiles.

Corey is a Kamilaroi man born in Yuin Country in Nowra on the NSW South Coast. He founded Deadly Science, a not-for-profit organisation that aims to provide resources to remote schools in Australia and connect young First Nations people with mentors to encourage their participation in STEM projects. Ben Williams is a young artist from the Kanturrpa clan in the Northern Territory. He creates contemporary art inspired by his family, who are also artists.

Corey shares knowledge from 20 different First Nations. Each reptile pictured features its name in a First Language, with information about its food, breeding and babies, conservation, predators and prey. He deals with the fact that sometimes the English names for reptiles are misnomers (as in the Tiger Snake not always having stripes and the Northern Death Adder not even being an Adder) and how the traditional names are important.

He explains that the book contains DEADLY reptiles that are not always venomous. For the First Nations, “deadly” is how they describe something “cool or awesome.” A glossary at the end of the book and a map at the front shows Indigenous Australian locations throughout Australia.

This is a fabulous resource that would interest and be enjoyed by young readers ages 8+, especially those fascinated with science and the natural world.