The Wilderness Society has revealed the winners of this year’s Environment Award for Children’s Literature. This award is presented annually to fiction and nonfiction books that ‘foster a love of wild places and wildlife in young Australians’ and ‘encourage a sense of responsibility for our natural world’.

Here are the winners for all three categories…

Picture Fiction

One Careless Night by Christina Booth

Where the mist swallows mountains and winds whisper through ancient trees, a mother and her pup run wild and free. They hunt, but they are also hunted. Carted away. Sold for bounty. And then, one careless night … the last thylacine is gone. In this hauntingly beautiful picture book, Christina Booth tells the story of Australia’s last Tasmanian tiger, which died in captivity.

For ages 4+.

Nonfiction

Explore Your World: Weird, Wild, Amazing! by Tim Flannery & Sam Caldwell

Are zombie jellyfish real? Do frogs like opera? Which animals eat poop? (And more importantly, WHY?!) What’s it like to wrestle a python? Bursting with bizarre facts, packed with vibrant illustrations and guided by one of the world’s greatest living scientists, Professor Tim Flannery, this deep-dive into the natural world will enthral and enlighten readers.

For ages 6+.

Fiction

Super Sidekicks 2: Ocean’s Revenge by Gavin Aung Than

Gavin Aung Than continues the adventures of the Super Sidekick with this funny and energetic eco-tale. The Mother of the Seas is sick of humans using the oceans as a junkyard, so she decides to give the land dwellers a taste of their own medicine. Everyone – prepare for an unbelievable underwater menace that threatens to destroy the entire world!

For ages 7+.

Find out more about the Environment Award for Children’s Literature here.