Things to Know and Do
Learn about important topics, or spark interest in a new hobby. Our Things to Know and Do collection is filled with true stories, ideas, facts, and skills that might stay with their reader for a lifetime. These books start conversations and activities propelled by questions like, ‘How do you do that?’ and ‘Who’s that person?’ or comments like ‘I’m bored!’ Engagement, learning, and fun are guaranteed!
Author: Hilary Bell
Illustrator: Antonia Pesenti
AUD$27.99
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◆ A Readings best picture book of 2025
◆ NOTABLE: Children’s Book Council of Australia 2026: Non-fiction Category
◆ NOTABLE | Children’s Book Council of Australia 2026: Picture Book Category
◆ LONGLISTED | Australian Book Design Awards: Best Designed Children’s Non-Fiction Book
◆ An Artsplorers Book of the Year 2025
◆ A BookiebooBook of the Year 2025
From treetops to rooftops, follow Australia's most mischievous bird in this exuberant celebration of the cockatoo.
Who rules the skies from back garden to bush,
Launching from trees with a screech and a whoosh?
Bossy and smart, loves to put on a show,
Who could it be now? Why, Cocky — hello!
With playful rhyming text and bold, graphic illustrations, award-winning creators Hilary Bell and Antonia Pesenti celebrate the unique spirit and curiosity of the cockatoo.
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Ages 3–7 | 36pp | CMYK | Hardback
Australian Edition | AUD$27.99
Pub: 05 Aug 2025 | ISBN: 9781761381577 | 300 mm H × 190 mm W
Rights Held: World (all languages)
Meet Jemima, a lovable Labrador with a very important job! While she loves playing with her favourite yellow bone and getting lots of cuddles, Jemima is also a fully trained guide dog who helps her handler navigate the world. Through playful adventures and heartwarming moments, discover how Jemima balances her fun-loving nature with the focused dedication needed to be a guide dog extraordinaire.
Written by blind disability activist and guide dog user Olivia Muscat, with illustrations by award-winning artist Allison Colpoys, this charming picture book shares an insider's view of the special bond between guide dog and handler. Includes an audio version narrated by the author herself.
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Ages 3–7 | 290mm × 200mm | 32pp | 3 Pantones | Hardback
Rights Held: World (all languages)
Watch This! is a groundbreaking modern photographic picture book about children using their bodies to make sense of shapes in a playful way, from three highly-acclaimed Australian creators.
Can you make a circle with your arms?
Or a triangle with your fingers?
If we work together, we can make a rectangle, or even a pyramid.
We can make lots and lots of shapes – just watch this!
A bold and playful celebration of movement, energy, pattern, colour and shape!
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Ages 0–7 | 190mm × 190mm | 28pp | CMYK | Board book
Spring is here, and it's time to plant the garden. We're planning to grow tomatoes, lettuce, and herbs — and maybe even add some worms! What else should we plant? Which flowers are best for attracting bees? And how do we care for everything?
Learn all about gardens and gardening in this engaging tour through a plant nursery — packed with practical ideas, stunning illustrations, and delightful personalities.
A tribute to the people who nurture our gardens and strengthen our connection to nature, featuring the vibrant and colourful style of award-winning artist Alice Oehr.
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Ages 3–7 | 270mm × 225mm/10.6” x 8.9” | 30pp | CMYK + 1 Pantone | Flush-cut cover
Discover the magical world of numbers, shapes, and geometry that surrounds you every day!
What if the way that we traditionally teach kids how to count misses the clear connections between numbers, shapes, and the world around them?
Nabeel Khan invites you to draw on your child’s innate interest in geometry, patterns, and shapes as an intuitive and fun way to learn about numbers — starting their maths journey from a place of playfulness, curiosity, and tangible connection to their environment. We can find numbers and shapes everywhere: in the natural world, in art and architecture, in symbolism, and in the sky above us.
This approach is just as straightforward as 1, 2, 3, 4, but also provides kids the tools to see their world in a new way, and the agency to understand the fundamental connection between numeracy and geometry, changing their perspective for life.
Welcome to the world of magic counting!
Excellent gift for children who are more artistically inclined that will help them realise the exciting creative potential of numbers and geometry!
A brilliant tool for educators and librarians to help students to ‘see’ numbers and get curious about how mathematics offers a unique and mind-expanding lens with which to view our world.
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Ages 3–7 | 210mm × 198mm | 22pp with flaps | CMYK + 1 metallic ink throughout
★ A dPICTUS 100 Outstanding Picture Books selection for 2024
Climb on my lap. We’re under the moon. We might hear some animales soon.
I Hear a Búho is a rhyming story with text in English and Spanish, which encompasses language, the parent-child bond, nature, and the benefit of being still, and listening.
A mother and daughter are snuggling together on their porch, listening to the sounds of the night. A girl makes animal calls and her mother responds sweetly. To their surprise a real owl appears and flies across the night sky.
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Ages 3–7 | 275mm × 240mm | 32pp | CMYK | Spot gloss and blue foiling on cover
Reena hates rainy days. She hates the way the dark clouds make everything look so dull.
Rekha loves rainy days. She loves the way the rain makes the earth smell.
When Rekha spots a rainbow, she rushes indoors to tell her sister about it. Reena will want to paint it, for sure!
But when the sisters go outside to find it, the rainbow disappears. Where could it have gone?
A vibrantly illustrated tale about finding light even in the gloomiest of times, How to Find a Rainbow will warm your heart — and give you a handy guide to making your own rainbow, too!
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Ages 3–7 | 270mm × 250mm | 32pp | CMYK | Spot UV on cover
★ A Bookstagang AU 2023 pick for Best Illustration
★ Shortlisted for the BookPeople Children’s Book of the Year
★ Shortlisted for the 2024 ABIA Small Publishers’ Children’s Book of the Year
An alphabet of delicious things from around the world
A is for artichokes and long spears of asparagus. It’s for bright, creamy avocados and salty little anchovies ...
From apple pie to zeppole, and everything in between, Artichoke to Zucchini introduces young readers to fruit, vegetables, and dishes from around the globe. Full of tasty favourites and delicious new discoveries, it’s sure to lead to inspiration in the kitchen!
Following from the award-winning Off to The Market, acclaimed artist Alice Oehr takes you on a mouth-watering trip through the alphabet and around the world.
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Ages 3–7 | 270mm × 240mm/10.63” x 9.45” | 30pp | CMYK + 1 Pantone | Flush-cut cover
A young readers edition of the bestselling book from Auschwitz survivor Hédi Fried that answers lasting questions about the Holocaust.
Hédi Fried was nineteen when the Nazis arrested her family and transported them to Auschwitz. While there, apart from enduring the daily horrors at the concentration camp, she and her sister were forced into hard labour before being released at the end of the war.
After settling in Sweden, Hédi devoted her life to educating young people about the Holocaust. In her 90s, she decided to take the most common questions, and her answers, and turn them into a book so that children all over the world could understand what had happened.
This is a deeply human book that urges us never to forget and never to repeat.
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Author: Julia Busuttil Nishimura
Illustrator: Myo Yim
AUD$24.99
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◆ Winner: Small Publishers’ Book of the Year, Australian Book Industry Awards
◆ Readings’ Picture Book of the Month November 2025
A heartwarming picture book celebrating family, tradition, and culinary adventures.
Julia Busuttil Nishimura, known for her acclaimed cookbooks and heartwarming food stories, teams up with talented illustrator Myo Yim for their debut picture book collaboration, Sundays Under the Lemon Tree. The book, filled with family moments and culinary discovery, will captivate readers of all ages.
Sundays Under the Lemon Tree follows a young child’s memorable Sunday, with the smells and sounds of family cooking, the adventure of collecting seawater to make ricotta, and the triumph of learning to bake a special family apple cake. Busuttil Nishimura’s prose and Yim’s illustrations bring to life the comforting rituals and loving bonds that make Sundays special.
With themes of connection, heritage, and simple pleasures, this collaboration between Julia Busuttil Nishimura and Myo Yim celebrates the multigenerational bonds between food and family history. The book also includes the cherished apple cake recipe and promises to be a beloved addition to any child's bookshelf.
'What a heartwarming picture book! With bright and fun illustrations that capture the joy of life’s simple pleasures, Sundays Under the Lemon Tree brings us a story about family and food.'
— Lili Reus-Smit, Readings
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Ages 3–7 | Hardback | 36pp | CMYK + Neon Yellow PMS | Hardback
Australian Edition | AUD$24.99
Pub 04 Nov 2025 | ISBN: 9781761381485 | 280 mm H × 235 mm W
North American Edition | US$19.99
Pub: 07 Jul 2026 | ISBN: 9781964992402 | 9.3 in W x 11 in H
Rights Held: World (all languages)