My school intends to embark on an eco-enzyme composting project, so I read “Bee and Flea and the Compost Caper” as a form of research.

Although this is a children’s book, it educated me in regard to the types of organisms that can be found in a compost heap, including red wigglers, nightcrawlers, woodlice, pincer bugs, mites, potworms, and nematodes. It boggles my mind. How do these creatures find their way to those huge yellow composting bins in the first place? Or do I have to actively procure such animals and put them inside the bins? And if so, how many of these living things do I need to buy and in what proportion?

Story-wise, I thought it was a great tale of symbiotic dependence. About how the flea opened the bee to a world beyond pollinating flowers and how the bee made the flea feel that his life served a worthwhile purpose. It was an ingenious idea to involve the bee because children can understand how fruit peels can be converted to soil, which aids in the continuation of the life cycle of plants.