We Build Our Homes

BY LAURA KNOWLES, WORDS AND PICTURES, £12.99

This boldly illustrated children’s book relates 26 double-page stories of ‘incredible animal architects’ that create remarkable structures in which to live, sleep, raise offspring, store food or impress a mate. The master builders are both familiar (moles) and oddball (meerkats).

Succinct text conveys image-rich detail. Weaver nests dangle ‘like colossal raindrops’; Darwin’s bark spider webs ‘stretch as far as three buses, end-to-end’. My daughter was entranced by edible-nest swiftlets building nest-cups with their own spittle, and termites converting their poo into citadels.

The concept is simple but clever. Focusing on a commonality between people and other animals – the need for a safe home – generates empathy. We may be the ‘land-takers, world-shapers’ but we share with other creatures ‘this one planet we call home’. A compelling book, gloriously executed. James Lowen Nature writer