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‘We need the literature of other countries to expand our
horizons and stimulate our ideas. Without it, we are not only
diminished, we are starved’
(The Times, Magnus Linklater 29/06/05)
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My Life At the Bottom: The Story of A Lonesome Axolotl
by Linda Bondestam
Age Range: 6-8
At the bottom of a lake in a busy city, the axolotl narrator lives a happy life. He goes to underwater school, collects treasures tossed away by humans – ‘big lugs’ and has dance parties with his tiger salamander friends.
But soon everything begins to change. As the world gets hotter and hotter, the water gets murkier and murkier and his friends start to disappear to live on land. The little axolotl grows bored and lonely as he searches for his tiger salamander friends. One day the water is surprisingly warm, tastes of soot and the surface air is very hot. Suddenly, a colossal wave sweeps the axolotl away from the lake bed and up, up, up, into a surprising new future.
This bittersweet tale, by Nordic author Linda Bondestam, translated by A. A. Prime, shows how climate change is destroying the axolotl’s habitat. Combining the wit of the philosophical and irresistible axolotl with appealing aquatic art Bondestam’s empathetic story demonstrates the catastrophe facing the little axolotl, who is, possibly, the last of its kind and is facing real-world habitat destruction and extinction.
Axolotls are unusual creatures, unique among the amphibian family because they spend their entire lives in water. Native only to Lake Xochimilco in the Valley of Mexico as well as the canals and waterways of Mexico City Axolotls are members of the salamander family and are commonly referred to as ‘Mexican walking fish’. They are now endangered because of climate change.
My Life at the Bottom is being published in time for Earth Day 22 April 2022.
Good Night, Earth (2021) by Linda Bondestam also published by Restless Books is also reviewed on the website.