First we have Best Pals by Mel Broadhurst-Allen. Or Dr Mel we should say, Alderney Marine ecologist and all round good egg! Best Pals is aimed at early readers, 4 year olds, and helps develop word skills. We also enjoyed the illustrations and of course the quizzes. Mel wrote this during lockdown and full disclosure she makes a donation to us and other environmental charities from every sale. Thanks Dr Mel. Our favourite illustration is of course of Mel and her family looking for shells. Well done Sandy.

Next up is Kind Little Hands by Kathy Urban. Any book endorsed by Buglife catches our eye. “Help restore pollinator habitats” on the front cover has to make it worth opening. 32 pages published in 2024, and aimed at 3-6 year olds. There are full page illustrations throughout by Sally Garland. The book tells the story of our hero Noah, and his Grandpa who rescues a bee and starts a journey to explore what they do for us all- “Help educate the grown-ups” stuck with us. With some nice bee facts at the end showing us what we can all do, this is the 4th of Kathy’s books for young children, and not one to forget. In fact it’s better than that, really nice, and a good size if you are sharing it with children.

Moving on up now to primary school age, we have “Where is Eric? Eric the Earwig is Missing!” by Andrew Bickerton illustrated by Glen Holman. 23 pages with full colour illustrations, this is one of a number of books by Andrew. The story recounts the adventures of Basil the shield bug causing a stink when his friend Eric the earwig goes missing. What has happened to him? Will his friends find him before it is too late? “Where is Eric?” is the third story involving a group of insects. We spotted “Bumble” and “Wayne goes Wild” in the same series. All power to the earwig we say, much misunderstood, and like a lot of other insects they are accidental pollinators.

Finally we have The Little Adventures of Erig the Earwig” by Andy Evans. 138 pages with black and white illustrations aimed at 5-8 year olds. An award winner no-less; Gold Medal Winner – Wishing Shelf Book Awards 2024/25 and Winner – Next Generation Indie Book Awards 2025. You might think we have a bit of an earwig thing going on here, but Erig introduces us to woodlice, whirligig beetles, stick insects and plenty of others. Quite a big step up from the other books in terms of reading we particularly liked the “did you know” at the end of each chapter and no we didn’t know all the did you knows. There’s always something to learn. 

All are available from on-line booksellers.  We quite like Hive https://www.hive.co.uk/books which gives you the opportunity to support a local UK bookshop whenever you buy. Easy delivery to Guernsey and UK.

Enjoy! And let us know about any others you’d recommend.