"A rewilding story about bringing a wood back to life."
A delightful picture book that gives young readers a real insight into the relationship between animals and habitat.
We are very familiar with the concept of animals needing a certain sort of habitat supplying them with shelter and the food they need to grow and thrive, but here we learn that this is not a one-way process and that in fact the plants and trees need the animals for the habitat to thrive. What was equally surprising to me was that there are European bison and that a very similar extinct creature, the woodland bison, once roamed our own countryside.
Tanglewood is an old, dark and overgrown wood. We meet three very familiar creatures, the Fox, the Rat and the Crow. They are moaning about the lack of things for them to eat in Tanglewood. Blackberries remain hard and green and there are no tasty bugs and grubs around. ‘Long ago, things used to grow’ says Fox. But one day they spot a very big footprint and as they follow them, they hear loud munching and smell a strong smell and there before them is a huge creature who tells them he is Bison ‘and deep down, below ground, things start to stir. Tanglewood holds its breath’.
The trio are horrified that Bison is eating everything in his path, knocking down trees, rolling in the mud and depositing enormous piles of poo! This is bound to delight young readers as much as it does Tanglewood.
The trio of friends send Bison deeper into the wood, but while they grow ever thinner and more miserable where they are, the wood begins to thrive around Bison. His actions bring light and air into the wood and his poo adds nutrients to the soil, things begin to grow and butterflies, grubs and insects appear.
This is a wonderful demonstration of rewilding and there are very useful and informative notes at the end of the book, explaining about how trees communicate on the ‘wood wide web’ and all about the fabulous European Bison. With delicate, expressive watercolour illustrations, this is both charming and informative and will be a valuable addition to any class or home library.
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