The Adventures of a Grain of Dust

Hallam Hawksworth (1863 - )

This charming book for children is full of interesting facts about all sorts of plants, insects, birds and animals and how they all help to enrich the soil for farmers - each in its own special way. Join our narrator, The Grain of Dust on a fascinating journey around the planet to meet them.

"I don't want you to think that I'm boasting, but I do believe I'm one of the greatest travellers that ever was; and if anybody, living or dead, has ever gone through with more than I have I'd like to hear about it. Not that I've personally been in all the places or taken part in all the things I tell in this book—I don't mean to say that—but I do ask you to remember how long it is possible for a grain of dust to last, and how many other far-travelled and much-adventured dust grains it must meet and mix with in the course of its life. ...Finally, if what we call flesh and blood can think and talk, why not a grain of dust? In fact, what is flesh and blood but dust come back to life? Says the poet—and the poets know:

'The very dust that blows along the street Once whispered to its love that life is sweet.'

You see it's as likely a thing as could happen—this whole story."

Summary by J. M. Smallheer with quotes from the Preface of the book

Genre(s): Children's Non-fiction, Science

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 00 00 - Just a Word J. M. Smallheer
00:02:46
Play 01 01 - The Little Old Man of the Rock J. M. Smallheer
00:23:35
Play 02 02 - Some Early Settlers and Their Bones J. M. Smallheer
00:22:24
Play 03 03 - The Winds and the World's Work J. M. Smallheer
00:24:04
Play 04 04 - The Bottom-Lands J. M. Smallheer
00:23:54
Play 05 05 - What the Earth Owes to the Earthworm J. M. Smallheer
00:22:41
Play 06 06 - The Little Farmers with Six Feet J. M. Smallheer
00:27:24
Play 07 07 - Farmers with Four Feet J. M. Smallheer
00:29:23
Play 08 08 - Water Farmers Who Help Make Land J. M. Smallheer
00:29:12
Play 09 09 - Farmers Who Wear Feathers J. M. Smallheer
00:32:41
Play 10 10 - The Busy Fingers of the Roots J. M. Smallheer
00:22:02
Play 11 11 - The Autumn Stores and the Long Winter Night J. M. Smallheer
00:24:17
Play 12 12 - The Brotherhood of the Dust J. M. Smallheer
00:25:22