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Swedish naturalist Carolus Linnaeus (1707–1778) believed that it was his mission in life to catalogue everything on the planet: animals, plants, minerals – even a few mythological creatures.

Janis Freegard, contrariwise, is a poet trained in botany who has arranged the poems in her witty and engaging first collection by Linnaeus’ six animal classes. Featuring a stuffed kurī, murderous magpies and cake-shop cockroaches, Freegard’s work reflects the diversity of the animal kingdom and a commitment to conservation – while chronicling the adventures of her hero Linnaeus with a critical but admiring eye.

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Reviews

Kingdom Animalia: The Escapades of Linnaeus will get under your skin something fierce. It's neat to have something brand-new and shiny. – Hamesh Wyatt, Otago Daily Times

The author's imagination is infinite. In just one piece a witch teaches her to fly like a humming bird while advising a man from Japan about his cup of spaghetti and notes that our minds have minds of their own. Hers certainly does; I think I'll go and read this all over again. – Tedi Busch, Nelson Mail

Like a musician [Freegard] shifts playfully through tone and key and as a science-poet fact is always tempered by imagination and wit: "we try on lives like hermit crabs/ crawling inside/ twisting them on to our backs". – Paula Green, NZ Herald