Is a baby echidna called a calf, a joey or a puggle?
Magabala books along with Kamsani Bin Salleh have created another wonderful board book about animals for younger readers.
In this colourful book young children can learn about the various names given to baby animals and what they look like alongside one of their parents.
Each page has an illustration of the baby animal moving alongside its parent with an accompanying question and answer.
The colours used by Kamsani Bin Salleh allow for discussions about the real colours of these animals, time of day and even the habitat they live in.
Board books allow younger readers to see words in print, hear those words being spoken out loud and then see the accompanying illustration to add more meaning.
Each of the animals in this story are uniquely Australian and many of these are even endangered.
What do you call a baby…..? Is a great book not only for reading skills but a great way to engage young children in discussions about animals, their families, their habitats, how humans affect them and where they live in Australia.
What else can you do with this book?
Link in with other books that look at baby animal names.
Look at the colours used in the illustrations and then a photo of the animals. Why is the baby dingo blue? Or the emus a different colour? What else is this telling us about the animals, time of day or landscape?
Find out on a map where these animals live in Australia.
Find out if any of these animals are endangered and if anything is being done to help protect them?
