The Tiny Explorers

Join the Tiny Explorers on a treasure hunt through the garden! Kat Macleod’s luscious mixed-media artwork explores the natural world up close. Seemingly ordinary elements – grass, leaves, bugs and blooms – become mighty and magical when seen from their vantage point. And hiding amid this nature wonderland is a series of special items for the explorers to collect and transform into a fun surprise at the end of the journey. Repetition and use of prepositions to map the landscape help young readers follow the story, which invites explorers big and small to discover the beauty and wonder of nature from a different perspective. Australian artist Kat Macleod was inspired by watching her children play in their home garden, discovering new flowers, unusual insects and an odd assortment of tiny ‘treasures’. ‘After such a strange 2020, with so many months spent in lockdown and our children limited to playing in our small backyard, it shows that if you use your imagination, you can still have big fun in a tiny space,’ Kat says.