South with the Seabirds

South with the Seabirds by Jess McGeachin (Allen & Unwin) HB RRP $29.99 ISBN 9781761068645

Reviewed by Kylie Buckley

South with the Seabirds is a narrative nonfiction picture book that follows four remarkable female scientists on their 1959 research expedition to Macquarie Island in the sub-Antarctic.

The story follows the women - Mary Gillham, Isobel Bennett, Hope Macpherson, and Susan Ingham - as they explore the island and encounter a myriad of seabirds and other sea life. The captivating watercolour artwork includes single and double-page spreads, spot illustrations, and vignettes, with an extensive range of animals labelled.

The story concludes with a timeline of Macquarie Island, a short biography for each of the scientists, and a page with tips for young naturalists. The endpapers depict a large labelled map of Macquarie Island, including Lake Macpherson, Lake Bennett, Lake Gillham, and Lake Ingham named after each of the women.

South with the Seabirds is an informative book highly recommended for primary school libraries and budding naturalists, conservationists, and historians.

Jess McGeachin is a multi-award-winning author and illustrator based in Melbourne, Australia. He writes and illustrates books for children, including both fiction and nonfiction. One of his latest accolades includes the winner of the 2023 Children’s Book Council of Australia Eve Pownall Award for his book Deep. He is also the creator of the promotional artwork for the 2025 Children’s Book Week, with the theme ‘Book an Adventure’.

Business Chickens

Business Chickens by Jess McGeachin (Penguin), RRP $24.99, Hardcover Picture Book, ISBN 9-780143-779179

Reviewed by Susan Hancy

Fran the chicken is unlike all other business chickens. She does not dress conventionally. She is not punctual. She is not neat. And she certainly can’t sit studiously behind a computer working through a pile of paperwork, especially if there is an opportunity to prank her colleagues. But Fran’s boss is displeased with her, and she promises him she’ll try harder. She dresses like everyone else. She arrives on time. She keeps her desk tidy for a while. She even tries to get through all the paperwork, working late into the night alone in the office.

This, however, doesn’t make Fran happy and her boss is still not satisfied. Fran is “laid off” (spot the chicken pun) with the clear message that she is not a good business chicken.

The illustrations perfectly complement the text to convey the contrast between Fran’s creative, flamboyant character and the monotony and uniformity of office work life. Some cupcakes depicted in a couple of illustrations in the first part of the story provide the visual clue to the venture Fran decides to embark upon after being fired and, despite not being suitable for an office job, she discovers that she is an excellent business chicken.

My kids loved the story and the illustrations. They especially loved the concept that you can do something fun and creative for your job and be successful. We all agreed that we want to be like Fran. This is another crackerjack book for kids aged 4--7 by author-illustrator Jess McGeachin and we think it’s his best since Frankie and the Fossil, a CBCA Picture Book of the Year Notable last year.

Frankie and the Fossil

Frankie and the Fossil by Jess McGeachin (Puffin Books) HB RRP ISBN 9781760898847

Reviewed by Dianne Bates

A cheese sandwich is crucial to this story. It is what Frankie has for lunch the day she’s in the museum of natural science and what she feeds – despite the ‘don’t feed the fossil’ sign --- to a dinosaur skeleton which she sees on display. Frankie knows ‘everything’ about dinosaurs: she ‘could tell you the height of a Hadrosaurus, the length of a Leptoceratops and how to spot a Stegosaurus.’ What she doesn’t know is that the dinosaur she’s fed follows her and her mother home from the museum.

That night, unable to sleep, Frankie tries naming dinosaurs alphabetically. When she comes to a Diplodocus, she sees a giant head on a long neck peering at her through her bedroom window. Frankie thinks it’s a dream, but in the morning, she finds the same dinosaur outside her house snoozing in the sunlight. She makes her new friend some toast, of which it eats ‘every last crumb.’ The two play together, but next day a palaeontologist from the museum turns up to take the dinosaur to its rightful place.

Of course, life is lonely without her friend, but Frankie thinks of a brilliant idea – and she follows through with it, which is how this engaging picture book story ends.

No doubt any small child who loves dinosaurs will love this book, which is filled with full-sized illustrations, many of which are set inside the museum. The last double-page spread is particularly worth examining – one feels as though one is literally inside the museum, looking at the exhibits, which include a woolly mammoth and Frankie’s Diplodocus. To further interest the young reader there is a double page spread of over 20 dinosaurs in, what the label says, is ‘Frankie’s Prehistoric Sandwich Guide’ and which are arranged alphabetically.

This book is sure to win many fans.

Fly

Fly written and illustrated by Jess McGeachin (Puffin) HB RRP $24.99 ISBN978 1760892522

Reviewed by Dianne Bates

Lucy and her dad are good at fixing things, so when Lucy finds a sparrow with a broken wing, she’s sure she can mend it, too. Dad isn’t sure the wing can be fixed, but undaunted, Lucy gets to work and comes up with what she believes is a perfect plan. 

She somehow builds a life-sized airplane which she pilots so that Flap, the bird with the broken wing, can ‘feel the wind in his feathers again’ as it takes to the skies. Not surprisingly, the plane starts falling apart but not before a flock of birds from all corners of the earth – cockatoos, toucans, puffins and more – ‘lower(ed) the plane to a field below where it fell apart into a hundred pieces.’

From then on, the sparrow stays with Lucy and her dad until one day it’s gone.

It certainly stretches one’s credibility that a small child can build a plane that flies (even though it eventually disintegrates). And there’s no resolution re the bird – how does it leave the box Lucy’s made for it to rest in? Does its broken wing ever mend? 

However, small children – aged 3 to 6 years, for whom this book is intended are likely not to quibble about the facts mentioned above.

The illustrations are full-paged, using a lot of browns, greys and blues. The double-page spread of Lucy and Flap in the plane surrounded by brightly coloured birds, is particularly eye-catching.

The author/illustrator has drawn on a love of natural history (and a day job at Melbourne Museum) to create Fly.