Q&A with Emily Gravett

Emily Gravett’s captivating books about Pete the Badger and his woodland friends introduce children to the importance of environmental issues in a gentle, hopeful, entertaining way. Tidy shows the need for wild spaces. Too Much Stuff looks at over-consumption.

The latest in the series, Bothered By Bugs, explores the importance of insects to the ecosystems of which we are part. We were thrilled that Emily agreed to speak to us for our environmentally-themed National Share a Story Month.

How much does the world of nature mean to you?

It means more as I get older, but I’ve always enjoyed it. When I was a little kid, I had identifying wildflower books. I used to go up to the allotments and sit in the grass and imagine I was some kind of eighteenth-century herbalist. I made all these concoctions with wildflowers.

The illustrations of insects in Bothered by Bugs are very detailed. How do you know so much about insects?

Making this book was an education for me but where I live now we are surrounded by sheep and the amount of insects is phenomenal. To start with, I was a bit of a Pete – flappy about all these flying things that bite. Then, as I was working, I realised they are really beautiful when you look at them closely. I can’t always identify them but I have got better. By the end, well, I don’t kill insects anymore; I’ve become an insect lover.

I used to be petrified of wasps because I was stung very badly as a child but I have got to the point where I feed them. A friend explained to me that the queen throws them out in the autumn and stops feeding them, so they are like hungry teenagers on the rampage. Now I put a jar of sugary water on the shed roof and they seem to go there and don’t bother me.

Your stories are easy to relate to because they distil a universal experience – but they also strike a personal note. How far are the books inspired by any particular experience of yours?

I find coming up with concepts and ideas really, really difficult. I get stuck quite easily. Tidy wasn’t anything to do with the environment, it was about a badger. Then I saw a woman with a vacuum cleaner in a car park. She was vacuuming the car park, and that was a particular thing that changed the story. Too Much Stuff was more because I am guilty of this – I have way too much stuff. I try to declutter but then it just builds up again. For Bothered by Bugs, I have wanted to write an insect book for years and I had been trying out lots of ideas for insect books but none of them were right. Then, being here, I realised that I needed to use Pete for this – he was the perfect vehicle.

Despite the number of mistakes they make, Pete and his friends always seem very affectionately drawn and there is always redemption at the end. Are you as fond of them as it appears?

I’m really fond of them. I feel like I know them and I like the fact that they have frailties. I think, especially with social media, everyone is demonised as soon as something goes wrong, but as humans we make mistakes. The thing to do is to try to sort things out and come out of it a better person, but not totally better because we’re flawed. We need to start accepting that about each other.

Emily’s latest book, Bear’s Nap, will be released in September, published by Two Hoots.