First published in Singapore in 2021, the picture book Marvellous Mammals is now available worldwide and a valuable resource for learning about the geography and wildlife of Southeast Asia. Each letter in English corresponds to the name of a mammal that lives in the region (though the author is helped by the fact that the mammals go by different names depending on the languages spoken in their habitats). Some of the mammals are familiar to international readers, among them the orangutan, vole, and wild boar. Others are rare and elusive. These include the xoong xor, an inhabitant of Laos that looks like a cross between an antelope and a unicorn, and the Annanite striped rabbit, of which only two have been seen in the jungles of Laos and Vietnam in the past century. Most of these creatures living in the Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Borneo, and Papua are endangered due to climate change and human encroachment, and the book’s backmatter discusses ethical sourcing of consumer products and ways that populated areas can be made safer for animals.

For readers, elementary school and up, who don’t live in Southeast Asia, this book is eye-opening. The region has some of the oldest forests in the world, which has given rise to the vast variety of animal species. In a sidebar, Ng reveals that “At least one in 10 species of mammals that live in the Southeast Asian rainforests exist nowhere else on earth.” Darel Seow’s colorful illustrations mix realism with fanciful expressions that make the featured animals approachable and kid friendly, even the ones like the wild boar that are likely to attack in real life. In addition to the brief introductions to the mammals, sidebars offer fun facts that highlight their unique features and and compare them to other species in their “family.” 

Marvellous Mammals: A Wild A to Z of Southeast Asia

Written by Debby Ng

Illustrated by Darel Seow

Difference Engine, 2021, 2026

ISBN 978-9-81181565-2

Reviews:

Asian Review of Books

Horn Book Guide

You can buy a copy of Marvellous Mammals here or borrow it from a library here. Book purchases made via our affiliate link may earn GLLI a small commission.

Lyn Miller-Lachmann is the author of the YA historical novel Torch (Carolrhoda Lab, 2022), winner of the 2023 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature and a 2022 Booklist Editors’ Choice, and the YA verse novel Eyes Open (Carolrhoda Lab 2024), chosen by Booklist as a Top 10 Historical Fiction for Youth, 2024. She wrote the picture book Ways to Play (Levine Querido, 2023), illustrated by Gabriel Alborozo, and co-authored with Zetta Elliott the middle grade verse novel Moonwalking (FSG, 2022). Her nonfiction includes a biography of Temple Grandin in the She Persisted chapter book series from Philomel and Film Makers: 15 Groundbreaking Women Directors (co-authored with Tanisia “Tee” Moore) from Chicago Review Press. She translates books for youth from Portuguese to English, including the 2023 YA graphic novel Pardalita by Joana Estrela, published by Levine Querido, which was named a Batchelder Honor Book in 2024 and the graphic novel Our Beautiful Darkness (Enchanted Lion), by the Angolan author Ondjaki, illustrated by António Jorge Gonçalves.