The Hidden World of Gnomes

Gnomes are trending right now. You see them in gift shops, ready to promote Halloween, Christmas, or whatever merchandising season is current. No garden centre is complete without them, and, if you want the gnome of your choice, you had better shop early in the season. These trendy gnomes are out there and are not hidden. They sport pointy red hats and usually wear folk costumes suitable for industrious work. You can’t miss them.

But in Lauren Soloy’s The Hidden World of Gnomes, these Hidden Folk live in a quieter, gentler place, and not one of them is wearing a pointy red hat (although one wears an eye-catching red mushroom cap, and, in autumn, when gnomes enjoy “leaf riding”, acorns work well as safety helmets). These gnomes have pear-shaped bodies, garbed in something that looks like a wet-suit. Some wear spectacles, some wear monocles, and they never frown. They are content.

The opening pages (from which the above excerpt is drawn) introduce the reader not only to the gnomes’ home in The Pocket, but also to 12 gnomes with whimsical names (Hotchi-Mossy, Twiggy Dell, and Merry Pip, and that’s but three). Each one has a role which contributes in an important way to life for the plants, animals, and insects in The Pocket. Gnome “jobs” include seed gathering, babysitting robins’ eggs, squirrel-tail fluffing, moss farming, healing – every activity is an opportunity to support and sustain the community. Each gnome enjoys whatever it is he or she works at, and so, it’s not really a job at all. “The gnome year is divided into moons”, each of which is named for a seasonal event during that month. And with each month, there is something to celebrate because gnomes are joyous creatures “who love any excuse to celebrate.”

The gnome year begins with Snowdrop Moon when the first snowdrop appears, a sure sign that spring has begun. As the natural world awakens, the gnomes have “the joy of a good stretch”, and they may sing and dance in a circle. During Frog Moon, the “gnomes wake up the frogs when the time is right, and then there’s “the job of being as loud as you want” at parties of frog song. Those of us who have grass lawns think that dandelions are a nuisance, but not gnomes. Dandelions are useful as food; the seeds are used to stuff pillows and for “the joy of making a wish”. As the year continues, there is joy in the warmth of the sun or in listening to rainfall or in gorging on the red fruit that ripens during Strawberry Moon because “they just can’t get enough of strawberries”. Midsummer is Bursting Moon for gnomes, a busy time of “gathering, harvesting and tending.” Gnomes have an incredible work ethic, but they never pass up the opportunity to savour simple joys like a flower-scented breeze or the chance to spend quiet time with another, “sitting with another person, not talking, together”.

When summer ends and autumn begins, the gnomes engage in sport and games: leaf riding is a favorite, as is snail stacking where gnomes compete to see who can stack the most snails. Goose Moon is the sign that the cold months of winter are coming; it’s time to “buckle down and get all their preparations done” but not before taking time to wish “Safe travels!” to migrating geese and birds. Gnomes care about their friends. Autumn rains can be dreary, but not for gnomes who love the joy of dancing in the rain, even as the earthworms slither in the puddles at their feet. They have no worries about food shortages during winter; Puckle Swift is the gnome who dries and preserves all the food gathered throughout the summer, ensuring that the pantry is full. Whisper Moon is the time for hibernation, and so “The Pocket begins to get quiet, and the gnomes make sure all their friends have found cozy places to spend the winter.” Before long, it is Sleep Moon, a time when the gnomes have grown winter whiskers and “spend the coldest months snuggled together, occasionally taking snack breaks or checking on friends, but mostly sound asleep.”

The Hidden World of Gnomes is a charming book which reminds the reader that the natural world is full of magic and that gnomes help to make it happen. The song of a frog, a patch of mushrooms, or newly bloomed flowers are hints that gnomes are present, celebrating and enjoying simple moments of life in The Pocket. The Pocket is anywhere that there is flora and fauna, and, if you look hard enough, you’ll see evidence of gnome presence. As the reader journeys through a gnome’s year, special aspects of gnome life are presented: food choices (all natural), their dance songs, words and phrases for appreciating the scenery around them, recipes for mushroom stew, their exercise routine, and a list of treasured items. It is all simple, but fun.

Lauren Soloy’s illustrations are rendered in soft browns and greens, with occasional splashes of reds, yellows, and rust, and there’s something quite cozy about the drawings. The book is made for read-alouds, and each “moon” provides a natural division to the content, necessary for a book that is 96 pages long. Although the book is intended for an audience of 3-7 year olds, I think that very young readers might just like the pictures as some gnome activity might be a bit foreign to them. But older readers will enjoy meeting each of the gnomes and learning about their personality and purpose. The gnomes’ delight in their existence is a reminder to all that, as Mrs. Spider tells it, “My Beloveds, it is the simple joys that make life worth living.”