Raymond Huber and Brian Lovelock have teamed up again to produce another beautiful narrative nonfiction picturebook. During the course of a day, Gecko sheds his skin, hides from a hawk, eats a cockroach and a mosquito, loses his tail to a rat and scares off an intruder. Alongside the story of Gecko's day are short, easily-digested paragraphs of information. These are distinguished from the story by the use of a different, slightly smaller font. There are also further information and an index at the back.
This book is perfect for a wide age range. While the story itself contains a lot of information, it is told in an engaging and memorable way; "the fringe of his skin stretches out until his body seems to melt into the rock" so will be enjoyed by young children. Older children, while still enjoying the story, will be fascinated by the information snippets. All ages will enjoy Brian's vibrant, speckled artwork. The gecko featured in this book is an Australian Tokay gecko but the information in the book also applies to our New Zealand geckos. ( )