Carl and the Meaning of Life by Deborah Freedman

Watch this book talk by Colby Sharp. He uses the word - Breathtaking - I agree!

Carl and the Meaning of Life is a book about the interconnections of life on earth. Beneath the surface (yes Carl lives beneath the surface) you get a sense that a huge amount of scientific research went into the writing of this book but it is presented with such a light touch that it is only after reading about the role of Carl in our ecosystems that you marvel at what you have just learnt or discovered. This is a book that seems so simple but the meaning is so big. Carl is also a book about discovering yourself and your purpose.

Carl is not a bird, or a bear, or a beaver - he is an earthworm. He is happy with his life of burrowing, tunneling, digesting, feasting and casting turning hard dirt into fluffy soil until one day a field mouse asks a question. This question sounds innocent enough - why?

"Why?
Carl did not know why.
But now he needed to find out.
So Carl stopped making fluffy soil."

Do you remember Tenrec?

Carl, like Tenrec, sets off to find an answer. He asks every animal he meets:

"Why do I do what I do?"

He asks a rabbit, a fox, a squirrel and many others. His journey takes many days and the days turn into months. The ground becomes hard and barren. Nothing will grow. The birds fly away and the animals move on. Wandering through this now desolate land Carl meets a ground beetle. The ground beetle cannot find any grubs. That is when Carl notices the land is hard - there is no fluffy soil. Carl sets to work again munching, digesting, casting and tunneling to make the soil fluffy again. Over time the landscape is transformed above and below the surface. Balance has been restored.

The final page of this book has a quote about worms from Charles Darwin:
"It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world, as have these lowly organised creatures."

I would link Carl and the Meaning of Life with Leaf, Stone, Beetle by Ursula Dubosarsky. I would also compare this book with The Tin Forest by Helen Ward, Joseph's Yard by Charles Keeping and Cat on the Island by Gary Crew. If you want to extend your study of worms take a look at The Worm by Elise Gravel.

I was interested to read an interview with Deborah Freedman by The Children's Book Review. In this interview Deborah was asked about her own favourite illustrators and so I went off to explore her list. There are so many international names here. I read a review by Betsy Bird (Mr Noggibody gets a hammer by David Shannon) just today where she said US parents are not keen to buy books with different illustration styles. Looking at the list of illustrators mentioned by Deborah Freedman, who comes from Connecticut, I have some hope that books from around the world are reaching the US. In addition to the illustrators I have put here (one book cover from each) Deborah also mentioned John Burningham and Lizbeth Zwerger whose books you may already know.

 Anne Herbauts from Belguim

 Ayano Imai from Japan

 Beatrice Alemagna from Italy now lives in Paris

On my blog: What is a child?

 Byran Collier from USA

 Kveta Pacovska Czech Artist

 Maira Kalman born in Israel lives in USA

Marije Tolman Dutch illustrator

On my blog: Wolf and Dog

Nasrin Khosravi from Iran

On my blog another book by Uma Krishnaswami The Book Uncle and Me

You can listen to an with Deborah interview at The Yarn with Colby Sharp. Huge thanks to the library staff who alerted me to this wonderful book. Carl and the Meaning of Life was published in April 2019.

Here are two review comments about Carl and the Meaning of Life:

Freedman wraps up her story with a light touch, leaving it to readers to deduce the role of an earthworm in maintaining ecological balance. Horn Book

Freedman takes one worm’s curiosity about why he does things and cleverly transforms it into a look at the interconnected roles of animals and worms on the habitat they live in. Waking Brain Cells