Gecko Press

12/18/2025

Chosen by Katherine Rundell: I loved Omnibird: An Avian Investigator’s Handbook by Giselle Clarkson; an excellently witty and clever piece of non-fiction. It looks at 18 familiar birds – owls, swans, eagles – and their bills, eggs, droppings, with exactly the right mixture of jokes and clarity that will make your five year old into a passionate ornithologist.

The best children’s books of 2025, chosen by top authors and illustrators for Book Trust. "We asked authors and illustrators the impossible question: what is your favourite children’s book published in 2025?"

12/17/2025

A double People's Choice award on The Spinoff for Omnibird! By Giselle Clarkson

Selected for the year's best nonfiction (the only children's book) and best cover by readers of The Spinoff.

"The cover of Omnibird perfectly illustrates the title: an everybird constructed from a range of parts and revealed like the exquisite co**se game where you write a sentence, fold the paper and hand it on. Bold, layered, feathery in all the right places."

See the activity sheet on our website for a reminder of how to make your own exquisite co**se omnibird.

12/17/2025

"Put down the phone. Stop the clocks. Strap on the sandals. Pick up Omnibird and take yourself (and any kids if they’re handy) outside to watch some birds. I adored this book. Clarkson balances humour, science and old-fashioned, earnest nerdery. Her admiration for nature is palpable and infectious and I think might just urge a new generation of conservationists into being. Clarkson makes regular birds magical and curious and weird and incredible. Bravo."

The Spinoff Best Books of 2025 - Omnibird: An Avian Investigator's Handbook by Giselle Clarkson

12/16/2025

"It doesn’t make any grand statements but just shows a loss and a way to cope and remember. Quietly keen."

Betsy Bird on Is It Asleep? by Olivier Tallec

12/08/2025

Spotted 🙂

Who's Hiding? by Satoru Onishi—still one of our very best books.

"Finally a children's book which tackles the big questions: who's hiding, who's sleeping, who's angry, and who's who. Onisihi's deft vanishing animals are weirdly compelling, especially if you're under 3."

12/07/2025

Some ideas for summer ☀️☀️

Illustrations by
Philip Waechter from Around the World with Friends
Eric Veillé from Encyclopedia of Grannies
Hilary Jean Tapper from At the Bach

12/05/2025

A happy scene from Have You Seen Dinosaur? by David Barrow

12/04/2025

"Omnibird is hilariously, informatively, beautifully good.

Kids, read it with your parents. Parents, read it with your kids. Grandparents, school teachers, tramping clubs, read it with everyone and become avian investigators together."

A fabulous review of Omnibird by Giselle Clarkson in Backcountry magazine. 🦆🐦‍⬛🦉

12/03/2025

Omnibird is one of 10 children's books chosen for The Guardian Best Children's Books of 2025!

'In nonfiction for 6+, the entrancing Omnibird by Giselle Clarkson (Gecko) is no straightforward ornithological guide. Looking at 18 species through an original, humorous lens, it shows their characteristics – chicken feathers “the shade of apricot jam”, penguins with “secretly a very long neck” – in ways that prompt young readers to see birds as complex, funny, everyday miracles.'

12/02/2025

12/01/2025

"An overdue return from old friends Snake and Lizard that’s well worth the wait. They return in a handsome hardback that plays with names and words to help tell a new story about friendship and kindness."

"The multitalented Giselle Clarkson, author of the enormously successful The Observologist, pulls off another phenomenal achievement with this eggs-to-poop guide to birds, inspiring kids to “find the fascinating” in eggs, feathers and flight patterns."

Ann Packer, New Zealand Listener Top 50 Children's Books 2025

11/17/2025

The Best Ofs have begun!

Omnibird by Giselle Clarkson selected for Kirkus Reviews podcast, Holiday Gift Guide

"It’s a book you can keep returning to. A book that offers you something new every time you pick it up... It reframes how you look at birds. It turns birdwatching into a game and it’s really interactive. The illustrations are just a joy as well. They’re very wispy, cartoonish, a little bit of a Quentin Blake vibe but also accurate and clearly labelled." Mahnaz Dar, Kirkus Reviews podcast, Holiday Gift Guide