This engaging picture book from award-winning brother-and-sister team Victor and Sandra Steffensen inspires children and adults alike to look after animals through Indigenous cultural practices.

'For thousands of years, Aboriginal people looked after the land to keep it healthy, so there was plenty of food for the animals to eat.'

But today, the animals are wondering what has happened to the people. Trees have been cut down, land has been cleared and rivers have been polluted.

Join Uncle Kuu as he takes children out on Country to learn about the First Peoples' traditions of caring for animals, and in turn, caring for Country.

By First Nations people and non-Indigenous Australians coming together, we can all be part of the animal world and help to look after the animals.

From the bestselling author of Fire Country comes this endearing picture book for children aged 5-10 years that celebrates the value of Indigenous knowledge in modern Australia.

Details

ISBN13: 9781761181566
Format: Hardback
Number of Pages: 32
Edition:
Publication Date: 02 Sep 2025
Publisher: A&U Children's
Publication City, Country: Australia
Dimensions (cm): 24(H)x29(L)424
Weight (gm): 424

Author Biography

VICTOR STEFFENSEN is an Indigenous writer, filmmaker, musician and consultant, applying traditional knowledge values in a contemporary context through workshops and artistic projects. He is a descendant of the Tagalaka people through his mother's connections from the Gulf Country of north Queensland. Much of Victor's work over the past 29 years has been based on the arts and reviving traditional knowledge values - particularly traditional burning - through mentoring, leadership, and on-ground training with Aboriginal communities and many non-Indigenous Australians. He is the co-founder of Firesticks, and has connected with First Nations communities in California, Canada, and the S√°mi people of Scandinavia, sharing cultural knowledge practices related to caring for Country. This is Victor's third children's book following Looking After Country with Fire and The Trees.

SANDRA STEFFENSEN grew up in the small, tropical rainforest village of Kuranda. After living Sydney for 15 years, Sandra moved back to Far North Queensland, lured by her childhood memories and connections to the local landscape. Sandra's maternal grandmother is from the Tagalaka people from the Gulf Country of north Queensland. She teaches Visual Arts specialising in the practice of ceramics. Sandra uses the sgraffito technique to adorn her functional pieces with intricate illustrations of local landscapes and the wildlife inhabiting them to remind us of the beauty and the role they play in this world. This is Sandra's third children's book with her brother Victor following Looking After Country with Fire and The Trees.

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