Hamza’s Wild World

Hamza Yassin is a famous wildlife photographer and cameraman who sprang to fame in the UK after winning Strictly Come Dancing in 2022. Children may be more familiar with his work on CBeebies and in programmes such as Animal Park.

His book, ‘Hamza’s Wild World’, is jam-packed with interesting facts about animals, from carnivores to herbivores, predators to prey. The book starts with a highly interesting and inspiring mini autobiography, and I think his personal story would resonate with many pupils. The next section of the book covers humans, tackling our animal attributes head-on. The rest of the book is split into chapters covering all areas of animal existence, including sensing, communication, breeding and biodiversity. Each chapter is interspersed with fact pages, descriptions of Hamza’s favourite animals and his encounters with them, animal factfiles, and Hamza’s nature heroes. The book finishes with some advice for children on how they can become involved with nature, suggesting links and groups to become involved with.

The book is a very easy read and enjoyable to dip in and out of. I can see this book becoming a firm favourite of wildlife-lovers and could easily be used to tackle topics in science lessons.