Naturopolis

The narrative nonfiction genre of children’s books-particularly those exploring the natural world-seems to be growing, and it can be hard to get right, since the audience for the ‘story’ component and that for the ‘fact’ component are often quite different; sometimes attempts to meet in the middle can lead to something fairly disengaging for both adults and children. But in this case, author Deborah Frenkel and illustrator Ingrid Bartkowiak have created a book that allows readers to connect with both elements: the imaginative and the informative. Children from five years old will be able to comfortably digest the content, though the factual details are clearly designed to be read with an adult, as the font is very small. A first children’s book for both creators, *Naturopolis *feels assured and confident. The text reads as though a poet and a naturalist have sat down together over afternoon tea, not to negotiate a shared view but instead to share with each other the world they see. The result is a lovely combination of prose-poetry describing tiny landscapes hidden within the ‘great grey city, all steel and stone, tile and tar’, and bite-sized bundles of interesting factual detail about the flora and fauna to be found there. Bartkowiak’s painted landscapes somehow echo Jeannie Baker (despite the differing medium) while Frenkel’s language is descriptively elegant as well as playful. The book invites us to ‘Go gentle with shadows and secrets here: The silence is easily bruised’ and holds our hand pleasingly through that calm journey. (Content warning: there’s a page very full of impressively realistic-looking huntsman spiders!) Anica Boulanger-Mashberg is a freelance editor, writer, and reviewer, and has worked as a bookseller at The Hobart Bookshop for over 15 years.