Newts, Lutes & Bandicoots

Newts, Lutes and Bandicoots is full of rhymes, riddles and objects to search for; these provide the clues for what to search for on each page. So the book becomes a language learning experience as well as an enjoyable read.


The book has detailed and humorous full-page colour illustrations that children will revisit time and time again.


The illustrations take the reader through many imaginative and colourful worlds, including a trolls’ lair, a magician’s cave, a circus, a castle, ski slopes and the outback.




Mark Carthew is an award winning editor, author and teacher, well known for his numerous books and series exploring wordplay, music, movement, drama and humour. He is the series editor of the award winning and internationally regarded illustrated drama script series VoiceWorks and contributing author and editor in the Chatterbox series for Pearson Education.


Mark’s recent books for children include Wicked Wizards and Leaping Lizards (Random House), Five Little Owls (New Frontier), The Gobbling Tree (New Frontier) and Can You Keep a Secret? Timeless rhymes to share and treasure (Random House).


Mike Spoor has illustrated more than 200 titles, including picture books, junior novels, maths books, magazines and teachers’ resources. He lives in the UK, where he also lectures in ceramics, as well as offering school workshops in both ceramics and illustrating.


His books for children include Wicked Wizards and Leaping Lizards (Random House), the Dinosaur Cove series (Oxford University Press) and Blackbeard’s Sword: the Pirate King of the Carolinas (Stone Arch Books).