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by Crispin (Author), Mary (Illustrator)
Defence of the garden realm is a book for children, which an adult can enjoy. It is a series of short, exciting poems depicting the initial adventure of a small group of insects (and a spider) who are facing the oncoming ant army (there is no fighting). After danger is averted they go their own way, but we then read an individual poem about the early days of each character. This develops our knowledge of each personality with all of their insecurities and obstacles to overcome. For example, the character "Little Scaredy Spider" is detached from all the other young spiders because she is vegetarian and eats only seeds and leaves, her webs are works of art and are not sticky to catch insects, but instead are silky and beautifully intricate. There is a Bee, who is the son of the Queen's sister. He is posh and clumsy and therefore is named "Bumble," but through an act of bravery, gets awarded the "order of the yellow knee" the highest honour possible. It is nice to think that after reading DOTGR that a child will see many bees with that particular medal (pollen sacks). "Sergeant Dung" is a dung beetle and the leader of "the crew," he sounds like an old soldier from London and is physically very strong, but he observes how the different strengths of others can overcome things that his brute strength cannot. "Catty-P" starts off as a caterpillar who would like to be in the air force, but is too young to fly, but she transforms and sees life from a whole new perspective (and doubles Bumble's air force). "Mumble" is a worm and slightly depressed. He sees all the things that the others can do and has low self-esteem as a result...but, through selfless acts, is elevated by the friendship of "the crew." Then each member of the crew of five have an individual adventure, followed by a few team efforts to deal with flood, building disruption, the vanity of a handsome "Red admirable" butterfly and a final summary by Mumble. Each adventure has their own original watercolour painted illustrations and the result is magic.
