The rescuer of Tiny Creatures by Curtis Manley illustrated by Lucy Ruth Cummins

Roberta sees the world in a different way - she notices the tiny creatures that everyone else seems to ignore or avoid or worse.

"I rescue tiny creatures. It's a special job. A job no one else seems to care about."

She rescues tiny caterpillars, earth worms, spiders and I love her words to the ladybird:

"I carry the ladybug outside. Fly away home, I whisper. And it does."

There is a bit of a nasty bite from a dragonfly and sadly sometimes she is too late for some of these tiny creatures. But the dead bumblebee and beetle are good to study under her microscope.

Then one day the classroom wall is covered in hundreds of spiderlings. Luckily Roberta is brave and clever, and she knows exactly what to do. She shows everyone how to fold small origami boxes (instructions in the back of the book) and one by one each child watches the tiny spiders climb inside. Then the children watch a miracle of nature when, on the roof of their building, the children set the little baby spiders free. Each unfurl their spider silk and they float away like balloons to "new homes far away." While all of this is happening, one little girl in the class - Maria - is clearly not afraid. The next day Maria and Roberta have a conversation about a honeybee named fluffy. Roberta has found a true friend. The final scenes will make you laugh out loud and on the final page there is the promise of a third friend too. 

Here is the Kirkus review. Read more review comments on the web page of Curtis Manley. This is a book that children in preschool, Kindergarten and Grade One are sure to enjoy. 

You could pair this book with a poem I once taught my Grade Three class:

Hey, Bug! by Lilian Moore

Hey, bug, stay!
Don't run away.
I know a game that we can play.

I'll hold my fingers very still
And you can climb a finger-hill.

No, no.
Don't go.
Here's a wall - a tower, too,
A tiny bug town, just for you.
I've a cookie. You have some.
Take this oatmeal cookie crumb.
Hey, bug, stay!
Hey, bug!
Hey!

And here are a couple of other special poems about insects and minibeasts:

Hurt no living thing by Christina Rosetti

Hurt no living thing:

Ladybird, nor butterfly,

Nor moth with dusty wing,

Nor cricket chirping cheerily,

Nor grasshopper so light of leap,

Nor dancing gnat, nor beetle fat,

Nor harmless worms that creep.

The Bug by Marjorie Barrows

And when the rain had gone away

And it was shining everywhere,

I ran out on the walk to play

And found a little bug was there.

And he was running just as fast

As any little bug could run,

Until he stopped for breath at last,

All black and shiny in the sun.

And then he chirped a song to me

And gave his wings a little tug,

And that's the way he showed that he

Was very glad to be a bug!

Ladybug by Joan Walsh Anglund

A small speckled visitor

Wearing a crimson cape.

Brighter than a cherry

Smaller than a grape.

Tiny Ladybug

A polka-dotted someone

Walking on my wall.

A black-hooded lady

In a scarlet shawl.

A Dragonfly by Eleanor Farjeon

When the heat of the summer

Made drowsy the land,

A dragon-fly came

And sat on my hand,

With its blue jointed body,

And wings like spun glass,

It lit on my fingers

As though they were grass.

Lucy Ruth Cummins is the illustrator of another book I really love: