Beetle Bottoms and the eyes in the night by Madison Holroyd, Sarah Hill and Fiona Whyte

Visible Love Publishing. ISBN 9780987595928.
The mother-and-daughter team of three continue their mission to encourage imaginative play combined with storytelling for young children with this new Beetle Bottoms adventure. The Beetle Bottoms are tiny wee creatures living in your very own background. In this new adventure, Pip and Petal discover that Beetle Bottoms are not all pink-skinned like their own tribe, discovering brown-skinned HoneyKeeper Beetle Bottoms children, after a bee hive relocates to their tree. Together with their new friends, they join up with their Apple Keeper Beetle Bottoms friends and while they all are a little surprised to discover differences between themselves; they instantly all like each other. Some delicious feasting on honey and apple juice and some fun playtime together exhausts the whole group and they fall asleep curled up in one cuddly pile.
When the assorted Beetle Bottom parents wake up and discover empty beds, there is consternation all around. The elders from the tribes are all deeply suspicious of each other when they collide in their search for their respective children but put aside long years of differences to find the missing little people together. With great relief at discovering the missing adventurers, the tribes come together in a celebratory feast.
A gorgeous exploration of the truth that children judge each other on their connection with each other and not appearances, as well as a timely reminder to parents on the subject of 'inherited' prejudices.
View the book trailer.
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Sue Warren