Children’s books inspired by the Australian landscape. 

Congratulations to Cate Storey, Penny Watson, Sarah Matsuda and publisher Wet Season Books.

We’re pleased to share that Sunny Finds His Song has received two Whitley Awards (Royal Zoological Society of NSW Book Awards): the Children’s Conservation Awareness Award and the Noel Tait Award, the highest honour across all children’s book categories.

Sunny Finds His Song highlights the plight of the critically endangered Regent Honeyeater and is based on important research by Dr Ross Crates.

The Whitley Awards, presented by the Royal Zoological Society of NSW, recognise outstanding zoological publications about Australasian wildlife.

Named after ichthyologist Gilbert Whitley, the awards honour works that contribute new knowledge or present existing information in an exceptional way.

At Wet Season Books, our vision is to create children’s stories that celebrate the Australian environment and its unique ecology.  

Australia - a treasure-trove of biodiversity

As Australians, we are the custodians of a vital portion of the world’s biodiversity. Almost ninety percent of our mammals and over ninety percent of our reptiles, frogs and flowering plants are endemic to the Australian continent. This means that they are found nowhere else on earth!

This staggering biodiversity is supported by varied habitats: flower-filled heath, grasslands, wetlands, giant kelp forests, coral reefs, rainforest and delicate desert ecosystems. 

Honey Possum on banksia flowers, Clinging on to branch, illustration from Snuggled Away, children’s picture book Australian wildlife, native animals, author, Cate Story, illustrator, Sarah Matsuda

Environmental Literacy

We protect and treasure what we are familiar with and what we know and understand. 

Knowing your local animals: what’s common in your area, what’s threatened and sadly what has recently disappeared is an important component of environmental literacy.

Storytelling cultivates connections with the natural world.

Wet Season Books believes that children should grow up connected to their landscape, with an understanding of how Australian environments change across seasons, cycles of fire, long dry periods and monsoon.  We want to grow curious, inspired and passionate children that are driven to discover Australia’s flora and fauna and fight to protect them.