Shy the Platypus (Young Australia Series)

My Australian aunt sent me this book as a present when I was 9 and I still have very warm memories of the story and the beautifully life like pictures. Its a story about the life cycle of a female platypus. The reader starts with Shy's birth in a dark underground home, to her playful love affair with a male platypus, a fight between her 2 suitors and then the advancing death of Shy's beloved mother. There is also a flood and the young reader learns how nature and the life cycle affect lives. It is a sensitively written book that helps relate to children the cycles of our own lives. Its a shame the book is now out of print.