Meet the Peculiar Parents

Inside this funny book, from the National Library of Australia, you’ll learn all about the lives of different animal parents…

Welcome to the perfectly peculiar world of Aussie animal mums and dads – and their awesome offspring, of course!

Book cover of Peculiar Parents by Stephanie Owen Reeder and Ingrid Bartkowiak, featuring framed illustrations of animals—including a bird, fish, sleeping animals, and a possum—set against a blue background.

Inside this funny book you’ll learn all about the lives of different animal parents – from how they pick a mate and make a home to the way they look after their babies.

Meet parrots that play the drums and cuttlefish that can change colour, plus dancing spiders, kissing lizards, plonking pobblebonks and many more amazing Aussie animals!

A smiling woman with curly hair and glasses, wearing a dark top, necklace, and a green scarf, is pictured in a wooden frame with a beaded border—a perfect portrait for the Peculiar Parents collection. The background is softly blurred.

Author Q&A

We asked author, Stephanie Owen Reeder about this exciting new book…

What inspired you to write the book?

When I was researching my previous book, Sensational Australian Animals, I found lots of fascinating parenting facts that made me go ‘Ooh, I didn’t know that!’ and ‘Yuck, do they really do that?’ or ‘Wow, that’s amazing!’ So I set them aside, and that’s what became Peculiar Parents!

Which animal is your favourite peculiar parent?

Saltwater crocodile mums are suprisingly caring, despite their humongous size and impressive teeth! They gently carry their babies in their open mouths for their very first swim, and let their kids ride on top of their heads once they’re big enough. Aw!

Are there any similarities between animal parents and human ones?

There are lots! Like humans, many animals mate for life. They put a lot of effort into finding a special partner, then they build comfy homes together and tenderly rear their babies. They also feed them weird and wonderful food and teach them how to get on in this wild and sometimes dangerous world.

What’s your favourite fact from the book?

I was shocked to learn just how many animals feed their offspring poo and vomit! This includes koalas, who produce a pooey pap to help their joeys digest toxic eucalyptus leaves, and penguins, who vomit up mushy fish to feed their chicks. Ugh!

Why should kids read this book?

There’s a whole world of peculiar facts about Aussie animal families to enjoy, along with incredibly cute illustrations and mind-boggling information.