Bedfordshire author’s rhyming books inspire children’s love of reading and nature

A Bedfordshire-based author has published a series of three rhyming books to inspire children’s love of reading and develop a love of nature.

The books, penned by Marian Hawkins, are accompanied by fascinating facts and beautiful illustrations designed to highlight the importance and history of trees found across the UK.

Treeture Creature and Flowerbuds is the first series of books written by Marian who was inspired while walking her two dogs and fondly remembering her days at Brownies.

The game she would play while walking involved having to name trees that began with the letters of the word Brownies and then heading off to the local parks to find the matching leaves.

The books also highlight the huge benefits that trees have on the environment, from cleaning air to providing food – promoting plenty of reasons to start planting trees.

Marian was born in Hackney, London, but grew up in Bedfordshire, where her love of writing began at school.

She said: “Since launching in 2021 the books have received a great amount of positive feedback from parents, teachers, children and independent reviewers.

“The books are a great, fun way to not only get your child reading but also encourage them to explore the outdoors and learn more about the environment around them.”

Told in rhyming format, the three stories are perfect for children aged between four and nine years old and take them on a journey of meeting new friends and learning about different features of leaves, trees and wildflowers.The story tells of identifying different trees to enable children to recognise what leaf came from what tree. Marian has also incorporated some legends and myths into the story alongside the overarching message around the importance of trees and the positive impact they have on the environment.

There are also two swatch booklets to accompany the series, The Tree Trail and The Flower Trail. The friendly Treeture Creature characters are all included with fun facts to take out to explore on lovely walks.

Marian added: “The importance of trees is high on so many people's agenda now. The whole series is based on this and trying to instill into the next generation a love of nature by learning what is all around us and the unseen benefits of trees and wildflowers. If you’re looking for a way to encourage your kids to learn more about the environment and to get outside exploring these books could be a great starting point.”

All three books contain a different assortment of trees and flowers to discover, learning about how they look, their connections with other life, and their many uses.

The books are packed with fun facts subtly informing children (and parents) about both the basics of nature and more unfamiliar ideas and words, such as ‘chlorophyll’ and palmate leaves.

And, because the books are written in neat, enjoyable rhymes, the information is more memorable than a factual reference book might be.

Find out more at her website or follow her on Instagram.