Versatile Vertebrates

Tom Velcovsky is a graduate in Audiovisual Production from the Silesian University in Opava, where he specialized in screenwriting and storyboards. Before switching to children’s books and the making of comic strips, he worked in advertising.Marie Kotasova Adamkova has always loved nature and literature. Having graduated from the Faculty of Science of Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic, she became a zoologist. In her precious moments of free time, when she isn’t working on specialist publications, she relaxes by writing children’s books.Barbora Idesova is inspired by nature, the sun, music, meditation, myths and adventures with friends. Her drawings often depict various creatures from her own imaginary mythology. Goddesses, demigods, mythical forest beings with ordinary human qualities. They perform in strangely familiar dreamy scenes full of symbols and decorative elements. Through these creatures, she also tries to create a space to talk about topics that matter to her, like feminism and LGBTQ+ themes.

Selected for the CBC’s 2023 April Hot Off The Press Reading List"The collaborative project of co-authors Tom Velcovsky and Marie Kotasova Adamkova, and supported throughout with the impressive artwork of illustrator Babora Idesova, "Versatile Vertebrates" from Albatros Media provides young readers with detailed and fascinating information about the vertebrate family in a readable and comprehensible way, while staying scientifically accurate. "Versatile Bertebrates" is a welcome, informative, fun, and recommended addition to family, elementary school, and community library Pets/Wildlife and Animal Science picture book collections." —Midwest Book Review, Children's Bookwatch"I love the skeletons shown throughout the book, as well as a range of other diagrams, like a shark egg’s development and a representation of reptile skin under a microscope. A great overview of types of vertebrates and their traits." —All Done Monkey