The life cycle of the Tuatara by Betty Brownlie was a finalist in the New Zealand Post Children’s Book Awards 2012 in the non-fiction category. Beautiful photographs illustrate the simple but very informative text boxes, fact boxes and captions that describe the life of the tuatara. All aspects of this ancient reptile’s life cycle are covered - where they live, breeding, eggs, diet, behaviour, lifespan and threats.

I liked the inclusion of interesting facts - specially the surprising effects of temperature on the tuatara. For example, when it is cold the tuatara cannot digest food and need to lie in the sun to warm up first, and when eggs are incubated in cool temperatures, female tuatara are produced.

Other books in Betty Brownlie’s recently published Life Cycle series are; kiwi, pukeko, monarch butterfly, frog and albatross.

review by Heather

image by SidPix