Unreal: Can you tell fact from fake?

Unreal: Can you tell fact from fake? by Kate Simpson & Leila Rudge (Allen & Unwin) PB HB RRP $29.99 9781761180347

Reviewed by Karen Hendriks

Kate Simpson is both a scientist and an author. She loves non-fiction and creates books for kids that use her scientific background. This is her sixth picture book.

Leila Rudge is an award-winning illustrator and picture book author who has written and illustrated over 15 books.

There’s been a mix-up at the Museum. Some of the Myths and Legends exhibit were brought to the museum - so kids are asked to help sort the real-world animals from the myths.

Kate Simpson has created a non-fiction book that encourages a reader to think about and assess the information that they read. This is an important reading skill to learn. Kids love to discover things themselves. The text is easy for a young reader to absorb. The book starts with a warm hello and a double page spread that lets the reader know five questions they can ask themselves to help sort fact from fiction. This is followed by a contents page.  You don’t have to read the whole book in one go. It can be picked up anytime and pages of interest read.

Each animal and plant category are explained before introducing the five animals/plants on that spread. Predator - Equal parts frightening and fascinating, predators are some of the most exciting members of the animal kingdom The following page turn then reveals the real facts and the one unreal fact. The information is concise and doesn’t overload a young reader. Diprotodon - Roughly the size of a hippopotamus this Australian marsupial was related to the modern-day wombat. Simpson’s text makes scientific facts and information fun. Her scientific background really does shine through in this book because it is logical, ordered, and precise yet very child friendly. A lot of work has gone into the creation of this text and the reader is rewarded with a We did it!  Spread at the end. An index is also included to make finding things easy.

Leila Rudge’s hand-drawn; watercolour illustrations are a perfect match to the text. They are eye catching, interesting, and full of life. The cover immediately draws you to the book. The title is clever Unreal (Un in red, real in blue) as it alerts the reader to the journey they are about to embark on. A child is front and centre, surrounded by scientific specimen jars with animals, a skeleton, bird of prey and a sloth like creature. It has a wow factor.

I love how Rudge has created one child character who is the explorer throughout the book. The animals and plants have a scientific old world feel. Then when the facts and unreal fact are revealed, Rudge has used boxes and labels real/unreal. The child page turns and instantly finds the answers they are seeking. A standout throughout the book is the eyes and teeth and facial features on the animals. There is movement and the child is always active during their scientific journey. The reader is seeking as much information from the images as the text. There is a clever little twist at the end where the child becomes a werewolf. The index is then revealed followed by a clever little unreal box – werewolves are unreal.

Unreal: Can you tell fact from fake? is a picture book that would make a great gift for any child interested in non-fiction. I can see this book finding its way into many classrooms or home bookshelves to fill the hole for those kids that like reading these kinds of books. This clever, informative book is suitable for primary school aged children and up. It really makes reading non-fiction fun