The Boy and the Water Vole

Sam puts on his bright yellow rain boots and goes with his mum to the riverbank to look for something new. In the tall reeds and squishy mud he finds tiny footprints, and with his mum's help he soon meets Pip, a shy water vole with glossy chestnut-brown fur. Sam watches Pip nibble stems and slip into a burrow, and he starts to see what the little animal needs: native plants for food and cover, safe tunnels to rest in, and clean water to drink.

Learning that foreign weeds crowd out the plants voles rely on, and that litter and dirty water can harm them, Sam decides to act. He and his mum plant native shrubs along the bank, water them carefully, and collect stray rubbish on their afternoon visits. Sam also shares what he has learned with his classmates, paints a poster about water voles and organises a riverbank clean-up day. This gentle tale by Çınar BİBER can be read on Masalcı Baba.