Books

What Can We Do?

A book about the simple things kids can do to save Australia’s wildlife.

By Claudia Clark

Hannah Stewart is a 12-year-old from the Blue Mountains region of New South Wales. She is determined to save Australia’s endangered wildlife and aspires to become a veterinarian when she grows up. Through her stories and experiences, she discusses some of the biggest threats facing Australia’s native animals and simple ways that both children and adults can help.

In her adventures, Hannah highlights the importance of giving injured wildlife to a licensed wildlife caregiver, emphasizing that wild animals are not pets and belong in their natural habitats. She explains the importance of checking the pouch of an injured marsupial and demonstrates how to do it properly. Additionally, she offers advice on what to do if you find a bat tangled in barbed wire or an animal suffering from overheating due to the hot climate, among other topics.

Hannah and her classmates dedicate several Saturdays to building possum boxes and planting gum trees for koalas, all in the name of school credit and more. The key takeaway from her stories is that there are straight forward actions anyone can take to help protect Australia’s most vulnerable animals.