“See this hole? I dug it. I’m a mole.” The mole appears through a softball-sized die-cut circle through the book’s jacket, cover, and first page. After that, most of the action occurs above and beneath a horizontal line that represents the above and below ground. Keep your eye on the winding red lane; that’s the mole’s tunnel beneath the earth. As she navigates, she tells about the world above and below her, a world filled mostly with curving, wiggly worms, root vegetables, and butterflies. There are a few short lines of rhyming text on every page, but Ehlert’s bold cut-paper assemblages are the real star here. A visual index at the book’s end shows labeled pictures of each of the creatures below and above ground that the mole encountered, and a final double-page spread extending through the final endpapers lays out a map to her underground home. (Ages 3–6)

Get to know Mole, the underground protector of the garden, in this fact-filled natural history adventure with vibrant collage artwork from the Caldecott Honor–winning illustrator of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.

Some might think that Mole is a garden pest, but the truth is, he is a pest-preventer! Mole keeps worms and caterpillars and other crawly bugs from munching up all the growing veggie plants. And so at harvest time, there is a bounty of yummy goodies for the gardeners to enjoy—and Mole is chubby from all the eating he has done and ready to get cozy in his burrow for winter.

Complete with a beautiful glossary identifying all of the different worms, caterpillars, moths, and butterflies included in the illustrations, this colorful gem from Caldecott Honoree Lois Ehlert is sure to delight nature lovers of all ages.