A Home for Bilby
Illustrated outback story

This engaging picture book takes children on a journey through the Australian outback and introduces them to the bilby and its plight as an endangered species. Without much family, Bilby searches for a new home. He meets the other characters in the book - Koala, Kangaroo, Platypus, Emu and Wombat - who at first are rather unhelpful and unfriendly, but just as Bilby trudges off with a tear in his eye, they huddle and together find a resolution.

A feel-good educational read, with outstanding illustrations by award-winning artist Grace Fielding.

"It was a sunny day in the Australian bush and a happy place indeed for many of the animals that lived there. They were all playing and having fun. No-one saw the little animal sitting alone under a small tree."

A Home for Bilby won the children's book section of the 2005 WA Premier's Book Awards.

The judges for the 2005 Awards were glowing in their praise and described the book as an "archetypal children's book". They said "...There is an underlying tension for the young reader, wondering whether Bilby will find a home, something so basic to happy existence that the relief when the ideal shelter is found is palpable for everyone...The attention to production detail and the small drawings included on each page make this book a joy."

Grace Fielding was raised at St Francis Xavier Mission School at Wandering near Perth. She has been working as a professional artist for 17 years and is well known for her fabric printing and unique style that combines traditional dot art with contemporary images.

Grace has illustrated two other children's books: "Who's that Jumbun in the Log" and "Bip the Snapping Bungaroo", which won the Crichton Award for Illustration in 1991.

Author, Joanne Crawford, was inspired to write A Home for Bilby by her children, who were captivated by the bilby and wanted to learn more about it.

A Home for Bilby is published by Broome publishing house Magabala Books. Launched in 1987, Magabala Books is a not-for-profit Aboriginal Corporation that aims to promote, preserve and publish Indigenous Australian culture.

Format: Full colour, paperback
Age Suitablilty: 4 to 8 years
Pages: 28
Size: 210 mm x 250 mm

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