Tag: Happy Barry Capybara

Happy Barry Capybara has gone bananas

It’s here! My latest picture book, Happy Barry Capybara: Gone Bananas, is out in shops from today.

And the first review is in too:

“pure joy … silly, expressive and full of laugh out loud moments. This was reread twice in one sitting because they wanted to look again. One of our favourites!” – @playful.childhood, Instagram

You can find a copy at your local indie bookshop or online – links below.

Happy Barry Capybara: Gone Bananas

🇦🇺🇳🇿 Australia/NZ edition, published by Scholastic Australia, Feb 2026
ISBN: 9781761725296 (hardback)

🌏 SIGNED COPIES (PAPER BIRD)
🇦🇺🇳🇿 LOCAL INDIE BOOKSHOPS
🇦🇺🇳🇿 Booktopia
🌏 Dymocks
🇦🇺 QBD

10 days until Barry Capybara is back!

Happy Barry Capybara is the most chilled-out animal on the savannah. But when his friend the cheeky squirrel monkey, Harry, and his cousins are fighting over the last banana, Barry is left to decide who will get it. Which monkey will win the favour of Barry? Or will Barry have a new lesson to teach them about what it means to share?

This is the long-awaited sequel to my very silly picture book about a super chill capybara, and it’s out on February 1st through Scholastic.

Happy Barry Capybara: Gone Bananas

🇦🇺🇳🇿 Australia/NZ edition, published by Scholastic Australia, Feb 2026
ISBN: 9781761725296 (hardback)

🌏 SIGNED COPIES (PAPER BIRD)
🇦🇺🇳🇿 LOCAL INDIE BOOKSHOPS
🇦🇺🇳🇿 Booktopia
🌏 Dymocks
🇦🇺 QBD

New books for 2026

I’ve got four new titles coming out next year!

Happy Barry Capybara: Gone Bananas

First cab off the rank – the sequel to my very silly picture book about a super chill capybara. It’s out in February through Scholastic.

Pre-order now:

🌏 SIGNED COPIES (PAPER BIRD)
🇦🇺🇳🇿 LOCAL INDIE BOOKSHOPS
🇦🇺🇳🇿 Booktopia
🌏 Dymocks
🇦🇺 QBD

Paw Prints: Fuzzball

This one is part of Walker Books’ Paw Prints series – junior fiction books by funny authors and illustrators. Fuzzball is written by Nathan Luff, illustrated by me! Out in April.

Pre-order now:

🌏 SIGNED COPIES (PAPER BIRD)
🇦🇺🇳🇿 local indie bookshops
🇦🇺🇳🇿 BOOKTOPIA

Oh No!

This is something different for me – a funny picture book about onomatopoeia (i.e sound effects)! Out in May through Penguin.

Pre-order now:

🌏 SIGNED COPIES (PAPER BIRD)
🇦🇺🇳🇿 LOCAL INDIE BOOKSHOPS
🇦🇺🇳🇿 Booktopia

New book #4

I don’t have a cover to share with you yet, but I can tell you it’s a non-fiction follow up to my most popular book, Stellarphant. It will be my very first non-fiction book! More news on that soon.

Happy Barry and Toffle Towers both on the REAL awards shortlist

Wonderful news this morning: Happy Barry Capybara and Toffle Towers book 1 are both on the REAL shortlist! ⁠
⁠
The REAL (Reading and Enjoying Australian Literature) shortlist is used by three children’s choice book award programs around Australia: the KOALA awards in NSW, the YABBAs in Victoria and the KROCs in the Northern Territory. ⁠
⁠
Congrats to everyone involved in the shortlisted books! And a huge thanks to the library staff around Australia who volunteer their help with awards like these. ⁠
⁠
Get reading, kids – which are your favourites? ⁠

Download the 2025 REAL Awards poster

REAL_Awards_Poster_V2 (1)Download

Free capybara drawing tutorial

They’re the internet’s favourite animal! Have you ever wanted to know how to draw a capybara?

Here’s a free step-by-step drawing tutorial showing you how to draw Barry from my picture book Happy Barry Capybara.

Order ‘Happy Barry Capybara’

🌏*Signed copIes* – PAPER BIRD
🇦🇺🇳🇿 LOCAL INDIE BOOKSHOPS
🇦🇺🇳🇿 booktopia
🇦🇺 QBD
🌏 dymocks
🇹🇼 BOOKS.COM.TW

Happy Barry Capybara is out now!

If you like funny, animal-based rhyming texts with added fart jokes, then boy do I have a book for you. ⁠
⁠
My new picture book – HAPPY BARRY CAPYBARA – is officially out today! ⁠

I know some people pre-ordered, or grabbed an early copy through a bookshop or Scholastic Book Fair. If you’ve already bought a copy, thanks heaps! I hope you enjoy it.

If you haven’t grabbed a copy yet, ask at your local bookshop or click the links below.

Buy Happy Barry Capybara

Out now!

🌏*Signed copIes* – PAPER BIRD
🇦🇺🇳🇿 LOCAL INDIE BOOKSHOPS
🇦🇺🇳🇿 booktopia
🇦🇺 QBD
🌏 dymocks
🇹🇼 BOOKS.COM.TW

Come to the Capybara book launch

Join me to celebrate the release of my new picture book, Happy Barry Capybara. I’ll share stories and guide kids through an illustration activity—there’s sure to be lots of laughs and capybara-related fun! 

DATE: Saturday November 2nd
WHEN: 2:30 – 3:30pm
WHERE: Paper Bird Books, 42 Henry St, Fremantle WA
AGES: all age
TICKETS: free; bookings essential.

Happy Barry Capybara – out Nov 1st

Here’s my new picture book Happy Barry Capybara, out on November 1st with Scholastic!

“Nothing ever bothered happy Barry Capybara. 
He was chill when it was chilly, out on the savannah. 
Hanging with his friend, the yellow-headed caracara. 
No, nothing ever bothered happy Barry Capybara.“

Happy Barry Capybara is the most chilled-out creature on the savannah. So Harry, the naughty monkey, decides that he wants to try to bother Barry. But nothing ever bothers happy Barry Capybara!

Check out the book trailer here:

Thanks to my brilliant editor Laura Sieveking, and to Astred Hicks for the fantastic book design!

Pre-order Happy Barry Capybara

Out Nov 1st, 2024

🌏*Signed copIes* – PAPER BIRD
🇦🇺🇳🇿 LOCAL INDIE BOOKSHOPS
🇦🇺🇳🇿 booktopia
🇦🇺 QBD
🌏 dymocks
🇹🇼 BOOKS.COM.TW