The Tiny, Tiny Tardigrade

As of today, the children's book that I wrote with the lovely and clever Dr K is available on Amazon for you to spend your moneypounds on. It's full of delightful pictures and also some words. But mostly pictures.

Here's the blurb:

"It's never too early to start teaching your child about some of the amazing things that exist in nature. THE TINY, TINY TARDIGRADE is a book about tardigrades (also known as water bears or moss piglets) for inquisitive pre-school children. Large, colourful pictures help children and their parents learn about these fascinating creatures.

This book was written and illustrated by Darren Morrissey and Karen Verrall, at least one of whom is a real scientist.

Available now on Amazon in paperback and for Kindle."

As you might expect, there's an odd little story around how this came about.

I have a niece. She's nearly two. In order to avoid horrible stereotyping, I have made sure that most of the gifts I have given her over the course of her short life are completely gender neutral.  Hence the cuddly Batman toy and the cuddly Spider-Man toy and the outfits with skulls on and so-on. Completely gender neutral (ahem).

So when I saw a plush tardigrade for sale on eBay, I couldn't resist. After all, what self respecting (almost) two year old wouldn't want a cuddly tardigrade?

And then I thought... her dad isn't too bright. He's a Morrissey, after all. There's an outside chance that he won't know what a tardigrade is.

So I wrote a book to explain it all. Obviously.