Parks Victoria has just published its third digital picture book aimed at educating and inspiring young readers about our beautiful yet fragile natural environment.
The latest story is Sprinkle Streams Ahead, penned by Jordan Charters from Parks Victoria’s Education and Interpretation team, and beautifully illustrated by local designer Tania Ennor.
Sprinkle Streams Ahead is a short story aimed at students in Prep to Year Two, and follows a day in the life of Sprinkle, a curious little raindrop, eager to follow the alpine stream they fall into, all the way out to the ocean.
Image: The front cover of Sprinkle Streams Ahead, written by Jordan Charters and illustrated by Tania Ennor.
Throughout their journey, Sprinkle meets a couple of Alpine Tree Frogs, a family of Platypuses, and a group of colourful Giant Australian Cuttlefish. They teach Sprinkle about their underwater homes, and the importance of having healthy and clean waterways.
The development of the e-book was made possible through the Victorian Department of Education’s Strategic Partnerships Program, with another three digital picture books expected to be published over the next 12 months.
Jordan said she was looking forward to writing the next three books which will focus on some of the other animals featured in Parks Victoria’s Nature’s Mascots initiative.
“Part of our goal is to improve children’s connections with nature and offering them different ways to learn about things in their backyard which they may not have come into contact before,” Jordan said.
“The Nature’s Mascots program aims to highlight ten representative species for the different ecosystems around Victoria.”
“We broke it down into which species had overlapping challenges and threats, and the Alpine Tree Frog, Platypus and Giant Australian Cuttlefish are all heavily impacted by pollution and water quality.”
“Sprinkle Streams Ahead is about the importance of healthy waterways, and we’re working on other stories relating to fire regimes, habitat fragmentation and migration challenges, but importantly all of these big issues can be contextualised and scaffolded for a Prep to Year 2 audience,” Jordan said.
Sprinkle Streams Ahead was launched in October during National Water Week with a webinar attended by more than 5000 students from 66 schools across Victoria.
“It was so good having so many students respond to the story. I was really impressed with how engaged they were and the questions they wanted to ask afterwards,” Jordan said.
The Parks Victoria education team’s first two digital picture books – The Great Forest Guardian and Spectacular Splendid Swamps – were developed through the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA)’s Victorian Faunal Emblems program, which aims to educate the community on the Leadbeater’s Possum and Helmeted Honeyeater.
All three children’s e-books can be found on the Parks Victoria Conservation Storytelling webpage.
