Deadly Diaries - Steve Backshall (Deadly 60)

In his first ever Deadly Diaries Steve Backshall shares what it means to him to film the world's most endangered species. Learn how it feels to have a blue whale silently power past you in crystal clear Indian Ocean waters or to dangle beneath a helicopter in order to be dropped onto a crocodile nest while the mother crocodile is still there! The book will be broken down programme by programme, starting with a globe from the Deadly graphics highlighting the location and including facts, pictures, experiences and extended diary pieces. This is Deadly 60 as you've never seen it before.

The book promises an incredible and unique personal insight into life on location with the Deadly team and the book definitely delivers this. Regular viewers of the popular Deadly 60 programme will be able to 'hear' Steve Backshall throughout this book as he takes readers through many of the challenges and triumphs he has experienced while trying to 'visit' 60 deadly animals from around the world. 

The book follows Steve and his team through Ethiopia, Alaska, Great Britain, South Africa, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Florida. Each country has its own chapter and is packed full of facts. The chapters are full of animals which live in that country and is a fantastic book for these facts alone - the facts are all written with children in mind and in a way that is easy to understand, to use in school projects or to use as a starting point for researching an animal. However, there are also Steve's diary entries with descriptions of the happenings in that country on his search, what he has seen, what the team did and who, if any, was invited along to help with the research (experts etc). 

The book also gives away some of the secrets of the show, with insight into the technology used to film the animals and also the challenges faced by the team when they visit each continent of the world - each very different and all having their own difficulties to throw at the team.

This is a fantastic book for animal lovers of all ages and I am sure it will be popular with children, teenagers and also many adults who want to learn more about these animals. It would make a perfect gift but would also be a great addition to any school library - primary or secondary.

Thank you to the publishers, Orion Children's  Books, for sending me the book to review.