Vi um bicho genial lá no fundo do quintal (There’s a clever creature in my back garden)

Synopsis

The story of this book begins with a teacher asking pupils to write, as a homework, about an animal in its habitat. Luisa decides to write about an earthworm. The other children laugh at her for choosing such an insignificant creature, but Luisa does not give up. As a result, Luisa’s story is about the adventures of an earthworm – Anne Lidia – who one day gets tired of digging underground tunnels and hiding from the garden animals all wanting to devour her every time she rises to the surface to look for food. Anne Lydia dreams of adventure, she even dreams of flying. Throughout the story, anyone can see that she is an athlete worm, but there will be ever a safe place for her?

Recommended age: 6 to 10 years old.

Published by Editora Mediação
ISBN: 978-85-7706-063-4

Author’s words

In 2010, I was looking for a character to be part of a story that I would write for Luisa, my granddaughter. Then I recalled a short story I had written many years before, whose protagonist was a worm. When researching a little more about the earthworms life (whose scientific name is Phylum annelida), my interest in this little creature increased as I discovered new curious facts about worms. I wanted to know about the day-to-day life of this tiny creature who is blind, deaf and dumb and spends most of her life underground.

I used scientific content about the earthworms lives and translated it into a children’s language. To do so, I put Luisa in charge of telling the story in rhymes. The illustrations by Petra Elster incorporate photographs, objects, textures and even drawings of Luisa.

I suggest parents and educators to explore with children the study of earthworms, based on the “Facts about the worm”, factsheet that appears at the end of the book. This was constructed in collaboration with Dr. Gustavo Schiedeck, researcher at EMBRAPA.