Damian Dryden

The Frog and the Kookaburra Damian Dryden

An exciting story about life cycles and survival in the Australian dry tropics, for 5 to 9 year old's to read or for parents, grandparents and teachers who like to read to children. See who survives in this 'real life' story with birds, frogs and reptiles. The story begins when a dry creek bed fills with water at the start of the wet season. Frogs make their way to the creek to meet and lay eggs. Tadpoles emerge in an ideal environment. But challenges come and it becomes a battle for survival. The story characters include a kookaburra, an ibis, green tree frogs, orange thighed tree frogs, a rocket frog, tadpoles and a lizard. The illustrations also feature beetles, butterflies, dragonflies, dragonfly larvae, spiders and green ants. The story is set in a hillside neighbourhood, with suburban houses adjacent to bushland. Amazing illustrations have been created using Australian native wildlife photography. In the Hillside Habitat series there are 12 books featuring 50 species of unusual but common animals seen in Australia. The stories aim to emulate some of the everyday behaviour of these animals as they go about their daily lives, in or near our suburban homes. Each story includes a subtle but significant input from a person and contact with one or more domestic animals. Each story has an unexpected outcome and also a lesson to be learned. The stories were created while the author went about his daily life, observing and photographing, along the way. The setting is a hillside suburb, in a dry tropical city in northern Australia.