Pee Wee and the Magical Compost Heap - Book Review

Pee Wee And The Magical Compost Heap is the first story in a series of three children’s books based on the character Pee Wee Worman, which was made possible through a grant from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. It is illustrated with pencil sketches by Alia Toor of musical notes, sunflowers, children, compost piles, worms and other critters found in a compost pile, tiny lady bugs, plant parts and winding vines grace each page as readers follow the story.

The story opens with a cute and enjoyable song written by Joan Gilmour called The Compost Song that uses the universally applicable melody for the tune “The Hokey Pokey”. In this story, Nancy has lost her favorite ring and her brother Scott is helping her look for it in the garden. Luckily their friends Mathieu and Naseem come out to help in the task. Suddenly, a magical butterfly changes all the children into the size of bugs and they explore the compost pile. There, they meet P.W. Worman, a friendly red wiggler who is proud to show them his home. When they realize that it is time to go home, they climb to the top of the compost pile where they find Nancy’s ring. This theme is reminiscent of The Magical School Bus TV series in that the children shrink and go through educational adventures.

Environmentalists will be thrilled to know that though the book retails at only $3.95 (Canadian), 10% of the proceeds will be donated to the Recycling Council of Ontario’s composting projects. The author goes a step further by ensuring the paper it was printed on had at least 10% recycled content and used all vegetable inks.

Pee Wee And The Magical Compost Heap is a bargain for frugal minded educators, parents and caregivers. The 6-page glossary at the end of the book provides ample information for class and home school projects.

Larraine Roulston, the author of this series of worm compost books for children, has been involved with Recycling Council of Ontario for a number of years and wrote a newspaper column for 15 years called ‘Recycler’s Report’. Her series has inspired the Recycling Council of Ontario to provide a 30 minute P.W. Worman puppet show that is performed at schools, libraries and environmental fairs.

Be sure to visit Larraine’s website:

Pee Wee and the Magical Compost Heap - Book Review