Rex the Rhinoceros Beetle has arrived for National Insect Week!

This week sees the publication of my second picturebook, Rex the Rhinoceros Beetle - for younger beetle fans everywhere - and it’s just in time to celebrate National Insect Week.

Deep in the rainforest, Buster and Rex are rhinoceros beetles carrying a banana back to the beetle tree. But the more Buster tells Rex about his incredible strength and daring, the less rhinoceros-y Rex feels. Then, when danger arrives, can Buster live up to the stories he's told or is it up to Rex to save the day?

There are lots of great resources to accompany this picture book. You can draw along with Duncan Beedie (the fab illustrator who created the pictures) and make your own Rex in this video.

Scholastic is holding a competition offering bug hunting swag and a free copy of the book. All you have to do is draw your favourite beetle!

And there’s plenty more to come. I’ll add the resources here as they go live.

Why not make the most of National Insect Week and get out in the sunshine to hunt for bugs, then settle under a shady tree and read Rex the Rhinoceros Beetle.

No #Insectinction Campaign

Buglife’s campaign

‘No Insectinction’ is a call for action, a coming together of people and organisations with a shared endeavour to heal our planet’s life support system.

We must achieve three things:

1) Room for insects to thrive – we need to make space for wildlife and reconnect the wild parts of our landscapes

2) Safe spaces for insects – we must free our land and freshwaters from pollutants and invasive species

3) Friendlier relationship with insects – We need to act now to stop insectinction. However, the scale and quality of that action is still limited by our lack of understanding and awareness.

Plastic Monsters to highlight #WorldOceansDay

Today is World Oceans Day 2020, a perfect time to highlight the problems of plastic in our oceans.

Please admire these wonderfully creative plastic monsters. They’ve all been made from rubbish during the lockdown by super imaginative children.

The monsters symbolise the problems we have with plastic in our oceans and are the response to a ten-minute making challenge I set on Authorfy based on my picture book Tale of a Toothbrush, which was inspired by my work with #Authors4Oceans.

But, if you’re going to make a difference, and try to cut down the amount of plastic you use, July is a great month to do it, as it’s Plastic Free month.

You can join millions of people around the world reducing their plastic waste. FIND OUT MORE.

M. G. Leonard becomes Vice President of insect charity Buglife

It is with great pride that I can announce that I am the new Vice President of Buglife, joining Steve Backshall, Nick Baker, Germaine Greer, Alan Stubbs, and Edward O Wilson to campaign for our invertebrate friends.

Buglife is the only organisation in Europe devoted to the conservation of all invertebrates. We’re actively working to save Britain’s rarest little animals, everything from bees to beetles, worms to woodlice and jumping spiders to jellyfish.

Right now, our new campaign is called NO INSECTINCTION

‘No Insectinction’ is a call for action, a coming together of people and organisations with a shared endeavour to heal our planet’s life support system.

We must achieve three things:

1) Room for insects to thrive – we need to make space for wildlife and reconnect the wild parts of our landscapes

2) Safe spaces for insects – we must free our land and freshwaters from pollutants and invasive species

3) Friendlier relationship with insects – We need to act now to stop insectinction. However, the scale and quality of that action is still limited by our lack of understanding and awareness.