An image of author/illustrator Ben Rothery on a blue and purple patterned background. Surrounding him is the book cover of Ravenheart by David Gemmell, a dumbbell and four circular rocks that strongmen lift

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21 Questions

‘I devoured The Lord of the Rings trilogy in a week’: 21 Questions with Ben Rothery

A picture of a butterfly illustration from Ben Rothery's book Sensational Butterflies

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Fun facts

12 amazing facts about butterflies and moths

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Crafts & activities

Download a Sensational Butterflies colouring sheet

A picture of a walrus illustration from Ben Rothery's book Water World

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9 of the most extraordinary sea creatures

A photo of the book Sensational Butterflies by Ben Rothery surrounded by the butterfly mobile

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Make your own butterfly-inspired mobile

An image of a jellyfish drawing in Water World by Ben Rothery alongside a recycled jellyfish mobile

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Make a jellyfish mobile out of a recycled plastic bottle

A photo of the Ben Rothery colour by numbers sheet that shows clownfish outlines

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Download a Water World colour by numbers sheet

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Children's reading lists

14 books for kids that love animals

Ben Rothery's Deadly and Dangerous Animals

How BIG are the wings of a golden eagle? How STRONG is the bite of a saltwater crocodile? 
 
What makes a chameleon or ant so threatening, and which creature is deadliest to humans despite its tiny size? 
 
Discover the world's most dangerous and deadly creatures with award-winning illustrator Ben Rothery. Packed with stunning illustrations and fascinating facts, this incredible book is the perfect Christmas gift for nature lovers. 
 
Made to be both shared and read independently, this book introduces children to some of the most amazing creatures on our planet and their deadly secrets! 
 
Also available: Hidden Planet, Sensational Butterflies, Ben Rothery's Weird and Wonderful Animals, Ben Rothery's Deadly and Dangerous Animals and Water World.

Ben Rothery (Author, Illustrator) Ben Rothery is a detail-obsessed illustrator from Norwich, via Cape Town. He combines multiple processes to create intricate and delicate illustrations and repeating patterns, full of fine detail and vibrant colour. 
 
Much of Ben's work is inspired or informed by his love of nature - he grew up wanting variously to be a shark, dinosaur or David Attenborough crossed with Indiana Jones, but settled upon illustration as a compromise that allowed him to bring those fantasies to life on paper. In 2021 he won the prestigious Silver Pencil Award for Hidden Planet, and his work is published throughout the world. 
 
Ben works from a small but perfectly formed studio, which he shares with an unnecessarily large collection of very sharp pencils. 
 
Find out more about Ben at www.benrotheryillustrator.co.uk

Explore what it takes to be counted among the deadliest animals on Earth . . . 
 
From the saltwater crocodile's strong bite to the golden eagle's speed as it attacks from the air, many of the creatures you'll discover here are built for danger. But what makes a chameleon or ant so threatening, and which creature is deadliest to humans despite its tiny size? 
 
Find out with award-winning illustrator Ben Rothery's fact-filled world of the most spectacular and sometimes surprisingly dangerous creatures on our planet.

Water World

Water World is the stunning new book from Ben Rothery, author of Hidden Planet and Sensational Butterflies. 
 
Life on Earth is shaped by water, and only survives here because of it, but our ocean ecosystems are at the epicentre of global warming. Framed by the need to protect our oceans, Water World is natural-history illustrator Ben Rothery's rich exploration of the creatures from the coastal and offshore waters of the world - from penguins, seagulls, polar bears and seahorses, to plankton, sharks and deep-sea beings. 
 
Discover the longest migration and the loudest animal on Earth, and learn how our own actions affect the ocean, its inhabitants and our whole planet. 
 
Fun to read together or independently, this large-format, beautifully illustrated book is perfect for nature-lovers of all ages. 
 
Also available: Hidden Planet, Sensational Butterflies, Ben Rothery's Weird and Wonderful Animals and Ben Rothery's Deadly and Dangerous Animals.

Life on Earth is shaped by water, and only survives here because of it, but our ocean ecosystems are at the epicentre of global warming. 
 
This enormous blue wilderness contains somewhere between half and three quarters of all life on Earth, including the biggest and most numerous creatures to ever live. But more than 90 per cent of Earth's warming since 1950 occurred in oceans, despite their vast capacity to absorb heat and CO2. 
 
Framed by the need to protect our fragile oceans, Water World is natural-history illustrator Ben Rothery's rich exploration of the creatures from the coastal and offshore waters of the world - from penguins, seagulls, polar bears and seahorses, to plankton, sharks and deep-sea beings. Discover the longest migration and the loudest animal on Earth, and learn how our own actions affect the ocean, its inhabitants and our whole planet.

An Illustrator's Love Letter to Planet Earth

Hidden Planet

Perfect for animal-lovers everywhere! A beautiful crossover book for all ages, this is the book natural-history illustrator Ben has wanted to read since he was a child. 
 
Facts and descriptions provide insight into a curated collection of birds and animals - some endangered and some less so - told from the perspective of a detail-obsessed illustrator. 
 
Fun to read together or independently, let the secrets of the animals on our planet come to life in vibrant detail. 
 
'This is my love letter to Planet Earth; a celebration of her hidden species, from the bold and the beautiful to the interesting but ugly. And while not a complete list, I hope that these few give a glimpse of the outstanding diversity of nature' - Ben Rothery 
 
'For wildlife aficionados . . . [Hidden Planet] is filled with stunning illustrations . . . The engaging text is full of intriguing details' - Guardian Children's Books of the Year 
 
'Ben Rothery is an extraordinary illustrator of the natural world, and an inspiration to children and grown-ups to write their own love letter to Planet Earth' - Angels and Urchins 
 
Also available: Sensational Butterflies, Ben Rothery's Weird and Wonderful Animals, Ben Rothery's Deadly and Dangerous Animals and Water World.

For wildlife aficionados . . . [Hidden Planet] is filled with stunning illustrations . . . The engaging text is full of intriguing details

Ben Rothery is an extraordinary illustrator of the natural world, and an inspiration to children and grown-ups to write their own love letter to Planet Earth

Ben Rothery is a detail-obsessed illustrator from Norwich, via Cape Town. He combines multiple processes to create intricate and delicate illustrations and repeating patterns, full of fine detail and vibrant colour. 
 
Much of Ben's work is inspired or informed by his love of nature - he grew up wanting variously to be a shark, dinosaur or David Attenborough crossed with Indiana Jones, but settled upon illustration as a compromise that allowed him to bring those fantasies to life on paper. In 2021 he won the prestigious Silver Pencil Award for Hidden Planet, and his work is published throughout the world. 
 
Ben works from a small but perfectly formed studio, which he shares with an unnecessarily large collection of very sharp pencils. 
 
Find out more about Ben at www.benrotheryillustrator.co.uk

Perfect for animal-lovers everywhere! A beautiful crossover book for all ages, this is the book natural-history illustrator Ben has wanted to read since he was a child. Facts and descriptions provide insight into a curated collection of birds and animals - some endangered and some less so - told from the perspective of a detail-obsessed illustrator. Fun to read together or independently, let the secrets of the animals on our planet come to life in vibrant detail. 
 
'This is my love letter to Planet Earth; a celebration of her hidden species, from the bold and the beautiful to the interesting but ugly. And while not a complete list, I hope that these few give a glimpse of the outstanding diversity of nature' - Ben Rothery

Sensational Butterflies

Butterflies and moths are some of the most amazing creatures in nature. 
 
There are over 180,000 different kinds and they can be found on every continent except the Antarctic. 
 
From Monarchs to swallowtails, Blue Morphos to birdwings, the intricate beauty of butterflies spans the globe and yet also settles close to home in a child's garden, local park or window box. 
 
This large-format book brings the vibrancy and ecosystem of butterflies to life with simple text and gorgeous illustrations, covering the key butterfly and moth families and including scores of fascinating facts. 
 
Learn the unique way that butterflies see, or be amazed by the multiple double-page spreads showing wingspans in sensational detail. 
 
A stunning showcase of the world's butterflies and moths, debuting one of the UK's finest natural history illustrators, Ben Rothery. 
 
Also available: Hidden Planet, Ben Rothery's Weird and Wonderful Animals, Ben Rothery's Deadly and Dangerous Animals and Water World.

Butterflies and moths are some of the most amazing creatures in nature. There are over 180,000 different kinds and they can be found on every continent except the Antarctic. From Monarchs to swallowtails, Blue Morphos to birdwings, the intricate beauty of butterflies spans the globe and yet also settles close to home in a child's garden, local park or window box. 
 
This large-format book brings the vibrancy and ecosystem of butterflies to life with simple text and gorgeous illustrations, covering the key butterfly and moth families and including scores of fascinating facts. Learn the unique way that butterflies see, or be amazed by the multiple double-page spreads showing wingspans in sensational detail. 
 
With Ben Rothery's obsessive attention to detail, this book heralds the arrival of a major new talent in non-fiction publishing, exclusive to Ladybird.

Ben Rothery

Discover the weirdest and most wonderful creatures of Planet Earth! 
 
In this curated collection, award-winning illustrator Ben Rothery pairs fascinating facts with his stunning artwork to bring you the most incredible creatures in the animal kingdom. 
 
From the bone-crunching beard vulture to the venomous platypus and many, many more, you'll enjoy exploring just how weird and how wonderful the world of animals can be.

Ben Rothery

Ben Rothery's Weird and Wonderful Animals

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