Books / children
New book based on true events inspires children to care for the planet
“Uh-Oh!” Said Flo is the name of the new book that Rachel Falber and Sam Miles have co-created. The story is about a sea turtle named Flo and is based on true events.
The new book by Sam Miles and Rachel Falber introduces young readers to real-life environmental issues. Photo by Yvonne Deeney
is needed now More than ever
When people in India came together and spent two years cleaning one of Mumbai’s dirtiest beaches, a population of sea turtles returned to the beach after 20 years of absence.
Activist and lawyer Afroz Shah used to play on Versova beach as a child, and told the Mumbai Mirror that it had become “a plastic graveyard”. He decided he would clear the 5.3 million kilograms of rubbish with the help of a neighbour.
Volunteers flocked to the beach to support them. Thousands of people became part of the project that resulted in all the rubbish along the 2.5 kilometre stretch of beach being cleared.
Today there are over 80 Olive Ridley sea turtles residing on the beach. This species of turtles has been classed as ‘vulnerable’ by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
Rachel and Sam wanted to re-tell this story to children by looking at it from the point of view of a sea turtle who was finally able to return home. Rachel told Bristol24/7: “You may just be one person, but your actions can inspire positive change in the people and the world around you.”
They have printed an activity book with sea-themed exercises to accompany the story. They plan on doing seasonal activity books, with the next one set to focus on UK wildlife.
Prior to March, Rachel and Sam had been delivering workshops to local children and they were beginning to contact local primary schools. But when the schools closed, they had to change their approach.
Rachel and Sam delivering a workshop at Arnos Vale cemetery. Photo supplied by Rachel Falber
“Our whole ethos is about teaching children – we don’t have loads of experience but have learned a lot from the workshops we have been doing with kids,” explains Rachel. “We felt for parents, suddenly having to play the role of a teacher. We were making the content, so we thought, why not help them out?”
When they reached out to parents and sent them free activities, the response was highly positive. In the end they found they had enough activities to make them into a book. Many of the parents who received their activities over the first lockdown contributed to their fundraising campaign to get the books printed. It meant they were able to print 300 activity books and reduce the price for parents.
They have decided not to sell through Amazon and instead to market themselves online and sell their book through local businesses.
“I have always been really keen on (the book) not being mass produced and really wanted to be mindful about the environment,” said Rachel.
Workshops within schools are not currently a possibility but they hope to start up face-to-face activities in the new year. They would like to donate some of their copies of “Uh-Oh!” Said Flo and the activity books to a local school.
“I was always really inspired by natural history books as a child and was brought up with Blue Planet. I went to a Steiner school where we had nature stuff coming out of our ears, so I was a bit spoilt in that way, in my education. But there are loads of schools that do not have that.
“I think it’s really important that this generation of kids grow up to be aware of things like this and be a change that we need. It doesn’t have to be huge amounts of people who make big changes – it can start with one person,” said Rachel.
Buy a copy of “Uh-Oh Said Flo by visiting: www.uhohbooks.com
Main image supplied by Rachel Falber
Read more: Children’s book from Bristol illustrator represents queer parenthood
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
