Quokka finds a friend by Katie Stewart

Beautiful endpapers show the vista on a Western Australian beach, giving a wow to the reader as they open the book.

When Quokka hops to the beach he finds a seal pup sitting on a rock by itself. When Quokka meets Seal, he wants to be friends. Quokka thinks that making Seal smile would be a great way to start. But, despite his best efforts, Seal doesn’t smile. Quokka goes to great lengths to try to make Seal smile but to no avail. He makes a lot of fun faces, does tricks, uses seaweed and shells to decorate his body, but all failed. Eventually he falls into the sea, and he can’t swim. Seal dives into the water to rescue him. He offers to teach Quokka to swim, but Quoka does not want to learn to swim. He asks Seal if they can still be friends, and of course they can, even though they are quite different.

Can they be friends after all? A resounding yes is answered within the story, showing younger readers that people do not have to fit your mould of a friend.  This latest picture book from children’s author Katie Stewart features well known Australian animals and uses her stories about animals to teach children the value of understanding each other’s differences.

Katie Stewart is an author and illustrator. She came to Australia at the age of nine. She has worked in a variety of positions, archaeologist, ethnohistorian, teacher and librarian, before using her skills as a illustrator to write and illustrate the stories, which now number five for Fremantle Press. 

Themes: Australian animals, Diversity, Quokka, Western Australia.

Fran Knight