Juta jumps in to teach young readers about environmental issues

Title: Facto and the Flixies

Author: Danie Schreuder

Publisher: Juta and Company (Pty) Ltd

ISBN: 9781485122609

Reviewed by: Fiona de Villiers

It’s great to see that publishing giants such as Juta are

producing story books about environmental awareness

for the very young.

I read Facto and the Flixies (FF) by Danie Schreuder, one

of a series of little books for children in Grade 4 (and up), and

found it charming. In an accompanying catalogue fact sheet,

Juta says, “The Flixies stories have been written to address two

critical crises: a literacy crisis and an environmental crisis.” Of

the former, says Juta, “We have a generation who do not want

to, or cannot read.” Of the latter, “Our planet is in trouble and

young readers must be made aware of biodiversity and our

responsibility to provide for the quality of life on earth.”

As you will learn from the summary on the back cover of FF,

Facto, the central character, encounters “[a] colourful, singing

group of weird, tiny creatures who live beneath the ground...

[these] Flixies can communicate with small animals and can

“listen in” when millions of plant roots talk to one another.”