The Scoot, Scoot Bandicoot Book Series

Karen Treanor, Author of
the Scoot, Scoot Bandicoot® Children's Book Series

About the Author

Karen Treanor is an Australian author of children's books. She has been writing about animals since the age of six, when she first made the acquaintance of a chipmunk in her back yard in New England. While working in Southern Africa, she wrote several reading books based on local folk tales for the Ministry of Education in Swaziland, and a number of radio scripts for the English Language program of the Ministry of Education in Lesotho.

Since settling in Western Australia and meeting the original Bounce and Pounce bandicoots in her own backyard, Karen has been dedicated to improving public awareness of these charming little native animals of Australia, which often suffer for their superficial resemblance to rats. She thinks bandicoots would have been a more appropriate State Animal for Western Australia than numbats, "who got the job because of their flashy suits". She started Quenda Books, which publishes the "Scoot, Scoot, Bandicoot®" series for children, in 2003.

Karen also writes books for adult readers, including "Death in the Sea of Grass" and "The Angelus Ghost", both available as electronic books from BooksUnbound.

Karen lives in Mundaring, near Perth in Western Australia, with many visiting bandicoots, possums, bobtail lizards, and magpies; plus some resident chickens, cats and a very tolerant husband.

About the Illustrators

Katie Stewart has had a life-long love of drawing, and over the years has combined this with her love of animals to gain a reputation as a painter of pet portraits and wildlife. She has illustrated a number of books, including school textbooks and a cookery book, as well as children's books. She illustrated the second book in the Scoot, Scoot Bandicoot® series, "The Big Red Bucket", and has also illustrated "Missy Beaglenose: Property of the Commonwealth".

She hopes one day to write and illustrate her own book for children. Katie lives in Irishtown near Northam with her husband, three children, two dogs, two cats and two Khaki Campbell ducks. The ducks appear in "Pounce's Special Friend" under their stage names, Gerard and Doreen.

Email: nenabrookart@yahoo.com.au
Katie Stewart's website


Mary Woodward is widely known around Western Australia as the 'Frog Lady'. In the winter months she shares her love of frogs with many family and school groups, leading classes in search of her favourite animal in the local wetlands.

Pobblebonk Paper combines Mary's artwork and photographs on beautiful paper, handmade from recycled junk mail, flowers, leaves and feathers. Her popular wildlife watercolour prints and cards feature Australian birds, reptiles, mammals and frogs. "Scoot, Scoot Bandicoot" was her first foray into children's book illustrating.

She shares her forest home with a human family, numerous pets and assorted wildlife including a friendly motorbike frog that lives by the fishpond next to the front door and a bandicoot which can be seen foraging in the leaf litter at the edge of the yard.

Pobblebonk Paper E-mail: pobblebonk@iinet.net.au;
Mary Woodward's Tanglewood Studio website

We know you'll enjoy the bandicoot book series for children. Please vist the bandicoot diary pages for entertaining stories of our favourite bandicoot hijinks

You'll also enjoy the children's books featured on our links pages.