1. Animals
2. Birds
3. Book design
4. Cartography
5. Endangered species
6. Environmental destruction
7. Environmental protection
8. Exploration
9. Extinction
10. Geography
11. History
12. Introduced species
13. Marine life
14. Nature
15. Planet Earth
16. Responsibility
17. Seas and oceans
18. Survival

Subtitled ‘The Story of Macquarie Island’, this sumptuous picture book for all ages is a history, geography, travelogue and hymn of hope. From first contact with sealers in 1810, the island deep in the Southern Ocean has been under threat. Now those who almost destroyed it seek to restore it. Coral Tulloch and Alison Lester are each gifted artists in their own ways and together in this book, they paint vivid word pictures of wild places.

The story of human contact with Macquarie Island is told in alternate full colour double page spreads that highlight the beauty of the island even as the danger is evident in the text and pictures. The intervening sepia pages are combination logbook, photograph album, letter and chart to guide the reader’s understanding of the story. Both Lester and Tulloch travelled to Antarctica, and this book shows their knowledge of the territory.

The impact arrival of feral predators is literally laid out in one of these double page spreads. Herbage foregrounds the picture, and the tip of the island extends away from the reader into the ocean, overhung with clouds, behind. The variety of greens in the picture – from palest teal of the tussocks to the lurid olive of the native parakeets – create a delight in the idea of paradise. The deep southern ocean all around is the speckled blue of a tranquil summer’s day. There’s a colour that does not belong. The tabby cat’s yellow eye on the doomed birds leaps out at us, as the animal soon will – and extinction is made more poignant than the text can convey.

The author-illustrators have created at least three levels of text: engaging detailed historical and scientific information for deep reading; picture storytelling in painting and drawing; and a simple but profound few sentences below colour spreads, for narrative picture book sharing.

Winner, CBCA Eve Pownall Book of the Year 2012 for Information Books; Environment Award for Children’s Literature, winner, picture fiction, 2012; Whitley Book Awards, winner, Best Children’s Book, 2012; Melbourne Prize for Literature, Winner, Alison Lester, 2018.

1. Alison Lester website https://alisonlester.com/
2. CSIRO Publishing Blog 2019 ‘Science Illustrated — Q&A with Coral Tulloch’ discussing her Illustrator process https://blog.publish.csiro.au/science-illustrated-coral-tulloch/
3. English for the Australian Curriculum ‘Save one island, save them all’ Year 5 Resources for the Improvement of English and literacy education by Kelly Booker and Jantiena Batt http://e4ac.edu.au/units/year-5/index.html
4. Australian Government Australian Antarctic Program 7 Oct 2021 Macquarie Island Research Station https://www.antarctica.gov.au/antarctic-operations/stations/macquarie-island/
5. Australian Geographic 13 Nov 2019 ‘A guide to Australia’s seals and sea lions’ by Roy Hunt https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2019/11/a-guide-to-australias-seals-and-sea-lions/
6. The Nature Conservancy Australia’s Endangered Animals, Endangered and other threatened species: Preventing further Australian animal extinctions https://www.natureaustralia.org.au/what-we-do/our-priorities/wildlife/wildlife-stories/australias-endangered-animals/endangered-animals-and-other-threatened-species/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA-JacBhC0ARIsAIxybyMO-AxKUpqAGOJTcCp-iTOdM4G0oxBZAPmzrUzZVCJigEdz38D_RmsaAnbmEALw_wcB
7. Penguin Teachers’ Academy 14 Sept 2011 ‘Alison Lester & Coral Tulloch introduce One Small Island’ https://penguineducation.wordpress.com/2011/09/14/alison-lester-coral-tulloch-introduce-one-small-island/
8. YouTube 1 May 2020, Alison Lester explores the background to ‘One Small Island’ and reads it aloud. Related topics available on YouTube are also listed https://www.google.com/search?q=teaching+notes+for+one+small+island&ei=TUGIY6vnNOTm4-EPxP2ukAw&start=10&sa=N&ved=2ahUKEwjrwdmz3df7AhVk8zgGHcS-C8IQ8NMDegQIBRAW&biw=980&bih=935&dpr=2.2#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:a269da3f,vid:qYB8yn5NJO8