In this interactive online learning session, your students will join author Stephanie Owen Reeder and illustrator Ingrid Bartkowiak and engage closely with the text and artwork of their engaging and informative new book Peculiar Parents.

The session will include a range of engaging activities to learn more about Australian animal features, habitat and behaviours.

Students will complete a drawing activity to learn how to develop more accurate animal illustrations, and discuss how to improve their research and scientific observation skills. The content in this learning session is suitable for students in Year 3 to Year 6 and links with the Australian Curriculum V9 for Science, English and the Creative Arts.

This session is a zoom webinar. Your camera will be hidden. Students and their teachers will be able to ask plenty of questions and contribute their ideas via the Q&A function.

This learning program will be recorded and made available after the event to those who have registered.

About Stephanie Owen Reeder

Dr Stephanie Owen Reeder is the author of over 25 books for children and adults. She has worked as a schoolteacher, a librarian, a book editor, a university lecturer and a Hansard Editor at Federal Parliament. Stephanie has won many awards, including the CBCA Book of the Year Award and the NSW Premier’s History Award. 

In 2019, Stephanie was presented with the CBCA Laurie Copping Award for Distinguished Service to Children’s Literature. Her latest children’s books include the Heritage Heroes compilation, Courageous Kids and Their Amazing Adventures, and the non-fiction picture book Australia’s Wild Weird Wonderful Weather.

About Ingrid Bartkowiak

Ingrid Bartkowiak is an artist and illustrator who works primarily in watercolour. Her hand-painted work features native flora, fauna and fungi. Ingrid has a fascination with all things small and intricate, from tufts of moss on a footpath to the fungi sprouting from a wombat dropping. 

Ingrid has worked across a diverse array of projects, including picture book illustration, murals, packaging designs and even pet portraits.