The tales of resilient Australian wildlife during last summer's bushfires has inspired an uplifting story by a Far South Coast firefighter.
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Tilba woman Jody Vassallo, a recipe writer and food stylist, hopes to give children a platform to process their feelings since the fires after witnessing the disaster herself as a resident and RFS volunteer.
Influenced by the stories of animals hiding in wombat burrows while flames surrounded them, "The Brave-Bottomed Wombat" tells the story of a mother wombat saving her baby and a host of other animals.
Ms Vassallo hoped the book might uplift readers.
"Kids would always ask me about the animals," Ms Vassallo said.
"The only animals I'd seen were badly affected by the fires. I didn't know how to answer positively.
"If it could change the way they feel about the fires and give them a happier message, I knew I had to do it."
With watercolour illustrations by Cara King, the book offers a way for children to access feelings and memories about the fires, and talk about them.
Ms Vassallo said the book's sale would raise funds for Firesticks, an organisation that practices cultural burning using Indigenous land management techniques to act as a defense against future bushfires.
The Brave-Bottomed Wombat is Ms Vassallo's 41st book. A cookbook Ms Vassallo published has raised $300,000 for farmers in drought and distributed the funds through the CWA.
Purchase the book via Chuffed or find out more about Jody Vassallo.