Graem Base Books

The Picture Books of Graeme Base: Books for Children by Talented ...

Confirms Base’s position as one of Australia’s best-loved and most talented children’s picture book illustrators and authors.

Enigma – A Magical Mystery

Young Bertie Badger is visiting his grandfather, Gadzooks the Great, at the Retirement Home for Elderly Magicians. When all the magicians’ favourite tricks are stolen, only Bertie can solve the mystery in time for the magic show.

Children will love the animal illustrations, such as Miss Poodle the Mademoiselle of Mime and Mistress Hypnosis the camel. The pictures of the animals themselves are beautifully detailed artworks, creating very definite personalities for each character.

, readers must also solve a code to unlock a special magical panel at the back of the book. The unlocked panel reveals a secret Enigma Code that decodes a list of the missing magic tricks as well as revealing other details about the retired magicians. Gadzooks the Great’s white rabbit Enigma and nine sets of his footprints are also hidden in each picture.

Interactive Picture Books

Graeme Base’s stunning picture book, Animalia (Penguin, 2001) takes readers on a journey through a variety of landscapes where animals gather about a waterhole that decreases in size. In addition to the feature animal for each page and a group of frogs, there are ten animals native to each landscape hidden in the pictures for children to find. In the final picture, when the waterhole has dried up and before the rains come, there are ten extinct animals hidden.

Uno’s Garden (Penguin, 2006) brings a strong environmental message for children , highlighting man’s impact on the environment. Uno finds a beautiful wilderness and makes his home there, but as others join him and the number of people and buildings increase, the number and variety of animals and plants decrease.

Children can search for a fantasy animal such as Moopaloops and Lumpybums, different plant species and different types of buildings in each picture. The shy Snortlepig is also hidden on each page. As the book progresses, animals decrease from ten to one, plants from 10 x 10 species to 1 x 1 and buildings numbers and types increase exponentially. Eventually, Uno’s children nurture the small area of wildness that Uno was able to protect, bringing back the animals and restoring balance between man and nature.