Author Adrian So takes middle graders into a world of moles, badgers, aardvarks, armadillos, and hares. The Groundworld Heroes: Book One will appeal to lovers of anthropomorphic animal stories like Redwall. It even has these types of animals intermingle with humans, similar to The Wind in the Willows.
Benjamin, a thirteen-mole-year-old mole, is an orphan who works for a construction company. He doesn’t have anyone who cares enough to send him to school, and he’s stuck at the Junior Digger level. To make matters worse, humans dug into his homeland, and now his fellow citizens have to evacuate. The stakes increase when Benjamin and a friend get separated from the traveling party, forcing them into their own adventure. Not only that, but a dragonfly fossil follows Benjamin around, and the reader must discover the significance of this mysterious artifact.
The young mole struggles with insecurity. He’s uncertain about his sharp claws’ possible danger, but he grows as he forgets his claws and catches a falling animal. However, he shies away from fighting humans, and guilt hammers him when he doesn’t rescue his friend from two-legged kidnappers. But he makes up for it by requesting aid from the rat king, and he changes further as he joins the battle against the humans.
The battle brings out the best in the rat king and his queen. The king is an unassertive ruler who doesn’t control his wife when she slaps someone and imprisons the evacuees. But when the humans invade his realm, he stirs up courage within himself. The queen softens and respects Benjamin’s heroism and his bringing the dragonfly fossil over.
Mild violence is present in the story, with slaps, kicks, punches, and hair yanking, making the story more appropriate for ten to thirteen-year-olds. The humans avenge the animals for ruining their gardens and infecting their pets, and they’re cruel as they zap a captured animal and kick little creatures. However, they have comedic traits and mishaps, which take the edge off the darkness. Examples are a man losing his oversized pants and a geeky man arguing for the armadillo’s scientific name. After the animals defeat them, the humans repent of their cruelty and leave the critters alone. While some readers may think the change of heart is too sudden, the men probably are so terrified after their defeat, that they won’t harm the underground citizens again.
I applaud the way So gives his animals a voice as they name time and distance. He would say things like “bunny-hops” when measuring distance. Instead of seconds or minutes, he would use “badger-winces,” “mole-blinks,” and “gophers’ giggles.” I love that the animals’ world is complex, yet easy for readers to picture as it’s like their world, with a construction crew, president, school, castle, and candy store. I would caution that particular vehicles are fueled not by gas but by flatulence. Thankfully, we don’t see the refueling process.
Overall, this book is great as a standalone story, and it’s a clever imagining of how a burrowing animal may live like a human. I say we all should be mindful of where we dig; you might disturb the home of a mole or an aardvark.
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When Groundworld is on the brink of extinction, it takes one mole with courage to save the day.
When Benjamin, a junior mole digger, witnesses a human invasion of his homeland, he must find his long-lost courage and unite two culturally distinct realms to fight the intruders and save his kind from extinction. What perils lie before him as he ventures into the unknown? Can Benjamin go up against a rough bunch of illegal animal trappers before it’s too late?
Meet the Groundworld heroes as they defend their country’s sovereignty and save their fellow citizens from capture and extinction.
