00:00So Sonia, can you tell us all about your book?
00:03What's it about and why did you write it?
00:06Yes, well, I'd love to do that.
00:08My book is called Amazing Tales and Truths
00:11about garden mini-beasts.
00:13And it's adapted from six books
00:16that I originally wrote years and years ago.
00:19I'd like to show you them quickly.
00:22And these are all about the invertebrates.
00:28And the fun word for that is mini-beasts.
00:30So we'll call them mini-beasts.
00:32Invertebrates have no backbone
00:34and they represent 97% of all living things on Earth.
00:40So they're vitally important.
00:42In fact, I often feel that the whole world
00:45really belongs to mini-beasts.
00:47So I felt that I would like children to grow up
00:53like I did, appreciating nature.
00:57I know today they spend a lot of time on their phones,
01:01but it's so important, nature, for everybody, for all of us.
01:06I was just wondering, obviously you're writing this book
01:09about nature and stuff.
01:10How does living in Kent, the Garden of England,
01:13what does that mean to you?
01:14I know you raised your family here, your son, Orlando Bloom.
01:17How does that translate to your sort of love
01:19of the county and nature?
01:22Well, it's a beautiful county
01:24and it's got lots of lovely natural parts to it.
01:28So how could I not?
01:29And I also live in a house...
01:31Well, my partner and I have lived in two or three houses
01:36and they all had gardens.
01:37You don't need a huge garden.
01:39I mean, anybody can go out and if they...
01:42Even if you've got a little tiny garden,
01:46they will find lots of mini-beasts.
01:48Mini-beasts are everywhere.
01:49But, yes, Kent meant a lot for me because, you know,
01:55I've lived in Canterbury, my children were here
01:59and there's a statue of Orlando in the middle of Canterbury
02:03and my daughter and my son both went to school
02:07very nearby here in Canterbury, Edmonds and Kent College.
02:12So that, yeah, I just feel that Kent was an ideal place
02:18to sit and write these stories.
02:20I know you talk a lot about the nature again
02:22and what do you hope children learn from reading your book
02:25about nature and insects
02:27and how to, you know, respect their environment here in Kent?
02:32Well, by reading the stories, first of all, you know,
02:36they would love the stories, I feel.
02:40I mean, there was one parent that rang me and said...
02:43that contacted me and said that her son
02:48loved Eddie the Earthworm's story
02:51and she had to read it to him
02:53for five weeks running every night before he went to sleep.
02:57And so, you know, children do seem to have loved the stories
03:02and I've written them with a lot of love and appeal
03:06so that children should like them
03:08as long as I could make them exciting
03:10and enjoyable for children.
03:13And I seem to have succeeded in many ways.
03:18I know my granddaughter, Daisy, she loves them, you know.
03:22Granny will read it again.
03:25She always wants the same, often the same story.
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