When it comes to teaching primary school children about the world around them, why present them with a series of dull, unconnected facts when you can link it all together in an appealing way through an entertaining story and even let the children try things out for themselves.

Children’s and Young Adult

A young graduate of the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, Tereza Vostradovská, is behind the text and illustrations for this inventive book, which presents information about nature in a gentle and interactive form. In its underground burrow, an inquisitive big-eared mouse is putting together its own nature encyclopaedia. For this purpose, it sets out to investigate both under the ground and above it, through the woods and orchard and around the fish pond, encountering worms and larva, tracing the outlines of stones from fruit, listening to birdsong, thinking about how to tell the age of a tree or how to decide what is a fruit and what is a vegetable. It also sets tasks for its readers, teaching them how to catch beetles, grow plants or make a garden pond. In addition, the book is linked to new media and comes with an app and a website, which are also in English. Although the book is primarily intended for younger schoolchildren, the playful and yet clear (often full-page) illustrations make it comprehensible and attractive for pre-schoolers too.

Tereza Vostradovská (1988), writer, illustrator, animator and designer. She graduated from the Academy of Arts, Architecture, and Design in Prague. She organises classic animation workshops for children and is a preschool art workshop teacher. In cooperation Circus Atos, a team of independent video game developers, she created a game for children which became the basis for Hravouka (Playful Science), an award-winning didactic book for children and parents about nature. Vostradovská has participated in Czech and international exhibitions.