Somebody Woke Wilson: a story about carbon

“Wilson is a carbon atom below the ocean floor,For millions of years, left in peace to sleep and to snore.One day a big boat appears and drills into the ground,And out pops Wilson up the tube but where is he bound?A car is where he winds up first although its rather hot,And as the pressure builds, out the car exhaust he’s shot.Landing on a patch of grass, oh what could happen now?Soon enough he’s eaten by a very hungry cow!Swirling through the stomachs, how long here will he spend?Sure enough it isn’t long ‘til he’s out the other end…In the atmosphere way up high Wilson causes thunder,If only someone planted trees to take Wilson back under.”I reviewed Somebody Crunched Colin at the beginning of the year by the same author/illustrator collaboration and felt it was a great book for children to introduce environmental issues. Roberts first book was the impact of plastic in the ocean and her second was the impact of plastic littering on our environment.This book is all about the carbon cycle. I felt this was an excellent topic as we hear in the news constantly about our own carbon footprint and the impact it has on the environment but what does carbon footprint actually mean? I for one wasn’t 100% sure on the carbon cycle so this taught me a few things, so if it taught me then it will definitely teach children too.Told in a rhyming narrative which I always find helps engage children in a story as they start to try and guess the rhyming words in the next sentence which makes them listen extra hard – this is great for developing vocabulary and inference skills too.Roberts has included a little introduction inside the front cover to explain about the carbon cycle to facilitate the underpinning knowledge behind the book to help with any questions afterwards which is always useful.The illustrations by Hannah Jayne Lewin are beautifully colourful and really help to aid the understanding. Plus there is a little cameo from Colin from her previous book which will be exciting for the children to find.With so much of our future dependent on looking after the environment and the choices we make to lower our carbon footprint, children will inevitably hear and be exposed to this language as part of their daily lives so this is a great book to start them on that journey of environmental awareness.