Some think toilet humour appeals to children’s baser instincts; others argue that almost anything that makes kids pick up a book and start reading is completely justified. Any vague reservations I had about this book’s title were quickly dispelled when a colleague informed me of the delight she experienced when she first learned to identify emu poo. I anticipate that this book will give many aspiring trackers similar satisfaction. Following the basic formula of their earlier Who Did That?, Bruce and Wade profile 11 more animals that can be found living wild in Australia. Large illustrations on every second double-paged spread create a guessing-game format. This seemed a somewhat indulgent use of space until I realised that they give the reader a sense of scale, not only of the size of the footprints and droppings, but also of length of stride as well as other clues about the animal’s method of locomotion. In significant ways this book is an improvement on the earlier title; information about the animals is arranged under useful headings. This increases the accessibility of the text and makes the book an ideal resource for teachers in modelling research and report-writing skills.

Lizzie Whyte works for Heinemann Library

Tags: jill b. bruce