M.O.L.E: Much Overworked Little Earthmover

A little mole peeks up from his hole into the Garden of Eden. There, he speaks to Jehovah, who tells him that though humans may have left the Garden, there will always be another Garden in the future.

As time passes, the little mole pokes his head above ground again and again, inbetween searching for fat, tasty worms; each time he does, humans seem to be doing something worse and worse to the land. Drilling, polluting, building vast structures that then fall away. Finally, he meets a man who tells him that a flood is coming…

Russell Hoban was inspired by a series of paintings by Jan Pieńkowski to write mole’s tale of our world from the Christian creation myth to modern times. It’s an unusual combination of a cute animal narration of an apocalyptic nightmare coupled with biblical references, but it makes for a thought-provoking story, especially in view of a possible looming climate and environmental collapse.