I wrote the first complete draft of Kookaburra in late 2017, but not before I had delved deep into kookaburra physical, social, environmental information.

I learned about their amazing monocular and binocular vision.

I learned that females are just a little heavier than males, which is related to the energy required to produce eggs.

I learned that adolescent kookas can be quite clumsy in a nest.

I learned the reason fledgling kooka feathers remain sheathed until the last possible moment.

None of that makes it explicitly into this dual narrative, narrative non fiction picture book. But I need to know all of this to before I can begin to write. These facts support my story as surely as foundations stop houses falling down. Invisible but essential.

photo Barb Wilkins

Tannya Harricks has again taken my words and added her special palette of magic to give life and colour to Kookaburra. Her work sings.

Kookaburra is a new title in the Nature Storybook series from Walker Books Australia. I am ever grateful to Walker for helping me share our wonderful Australian animals with readers around the world.

The first sighting of the actual book is always very exciting. In book evolution terms, nearly three years is not so very long, but it does feel it.

Welcome, Kookaburra. (cue kooka-song)

Release date 1 August 2020