My Strange Shrinking Parents by Zeno Sworder

It goes without saying that all children believe their parents to be strange. Mine were unusual for a different reason than most.

My Strange Shrinking Parents, written and illustrated by celebrated Australian author Zeno Sworder, tells the tale of a young family’s efforts to forge their own path in a new country, while their young son struggles to come to terms with his perception that his parents are ‘different.’ Readers’ hearts will be warmed by the protagonist’s journey of self-discovery as he comes to the realisation that being ‘different’ is not so bad after all.

My Strange Shrinking Parents is a 2023 CBCA Picture Book of the Year nominee. In 2021, Zeno was awarded the CBCA’s New Illustrator of the Year award with his book The Small Blue Dot.

Explore My Strange Shrinking Parents with Your Class 

My Strange Shrinking Parents was published by our friends at Thames & Hudson, Australia’s leading distributor of illustrated books. Teach Starter is proud to partner with Thames & Hudson to bring you this set of 12 literature task cards to support you in reading and exploring the text in your classroom. The task cards explore the characters, themes, language devices and illustrations of this beautifully-crafted story and are aligned with the Australian Curriculum (English).

Some of the themes explored in the story include:

• Love
• Migration
• Multiculturalism
• Loneliness
• Acceptance
• Coming of Age

You can purchase a copy of My Strange Shrinking Parents for your classroom library directly from Thames & Hudson Australia on their website.

(Pssst! Save 30% on all titles + free shipping with code TEACHSTARTER30)

Don’t have a copy of the book? Thanks to our wonderful partners at Thames & Hudson, we have provided our Teach Starter members with exclusive access to a personalised read-aloud of My Strange Shrinking Parents by the author himself, Zeno Sworder!

Download Ready for Book Week!

Use the Download button to access the PDF version of our My Strange Shrinking Parents literature task cards.

Looking for more lesson ideas to use when exploring My Strange Shrinking Parents with your class? Click on the link to access Thomas & Hudson’s comprehensive set of Teacher’s Notes, packed with cross-curricula activities to keep your students engaged and make lesson planning a breeze!