What the Worm Saw
Emil Fortune and Hannah Peck
Scholastic

Meet Earthworm,’ long, pink and wriggly’ is how it describes itself (earthworms are hermaphrodites) and in common with fellow earthworms is an important part of a garden ecosystem, helping to create and maintain healthy garden soil; and thus performing a vital role in the natural world. Talking directly to an intended young audience, the narrator Earthworm explains that it spends most of the time deep down in the soil, sometimes surfacing to nibble at old fallen leaves and petals from plants, It’s not always safe to do so however as a hungry hedgehog

or bird on the lookout for it’s next meal might want to slurp it up in a similar way that an earthworm consumes soil, pooping out what it doesn’t need; or maybe, a human foot might tread on it and squash the Earthworm.

This fun narrative way of informing young children about the vital role earthworms play works well, especially with Hannah Peck’s engaging illustrations. There’s a final page giving some earthworm facts and the book is published in collaboration with the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It’s one to share with young children at home or in an educational setting.

Christopher Nibble
Charlotte Middleton
Graffeg

Along with numerous other guinea pigs resident in Dandeville, Christopher Nibble loves dandelion leaves; indeed his favourite activity is munching them. Then one day the joyful sound of munching starts to wane indicating that these leaves are in short supply. Those which are available are being sold online at an extortionate price so instead, the guinea pigs have to make do with cabbage leaves. Dandeville is suddenly a much less happy place.

One day there’s just a single dandelion left in the town and as it’s growing right outside his bedroom window, Christopher Nibble is the only one that knows about it. Oh how his mouth waters but he knows he must resist the temptation to gobble it up and he must ensure than nobody else does so. Resolving to find a way to restore the town’s favourite snack, Christopher Nibble heads to the library where he finds a large book that could be just what he needs. Having read it carefully from cover to cover, can he use his new found knowledge to make Dandeville the cheerful community it once was?

With his patterned shorts Christopher Nibble is a delightful character and a green hero at that. Young children will be rooting for him as he endeavours to turn a crisis into a cultivating craft.

A tale with a timely message about caring for the natural world that is even more pertinent than it was when the original book was published around fifteen years back.