An environmental crisis often seems fairly remote until, that is, you wake up with a second head.

But that's exactly the situation for one of the characters in Andrew Stevenson's new children's book 'Bermuda's Toad With One Eye'.

The book is Mr. Stevenson's second children's book and is illustrated by Peter Woolcock. It also includes an audio-book.

"Peter Woolcock does all these strange and wonderful voices, and I just do the narrator and the teddy bear," said Mr. Stevenson, who has also written eight adult books as well as a number of documentary films. "Peter does everyone else."

Like its predecessor 'The Turtle Who Ate A Balloon', this book has a strong environmental message.

"Both are cautionary tales about our environment," said Mr. Stevenson.

"This book starts out with a toad with one eye. He wants to know why funny things are happening to the amphibian population's bodies. Some of his friends are sprouting extra fingers or an extra head, or losing their vision."

Mr. Stevenson said he has been careful to avoid the word "deformity". "We just say 'a funny thing'," he said.

The book was inspired by the work of Dr. Jamie Bacon, principal investigator of the Bermuda Zoological Society's Bermuda Amphibian Project.

She has found that up to 30 percent of Bermuda's adult toads living in a variety of habitats may have deformities. At some breeding sites as many as 50 percent or more of newly-metamorphosed toads may be deformed.

"This book builds on the previous book," said Mr. Stevenson. "A lot of the characters and a lot of the things that happened in the first book happen here again. There is a troll who lives under Flatts bridge. He is called Mr. BUTT, which stands for 'Bermuda Underwater Terrifying Troll'."

The book is partly influenced by Mr. Stevenson's interest in Norwegian culture. He speaks Norwegian fluently.

"Trolls come from Norway," said Mr. Stevenson. "And Mr. BUTT holds 'Big Things' under the bridge.

"In Norway, the word for parliament translates into 'Big Thing'."

Like a lot of real world prominent people, Mr. BUTT isn't particularly worried about the environment until it starts to impinge on himself.

"One day he wakes up with an extra head," said Mr. Stevenson. "Then he is concerned."

Mr. Stevenson said he is frequently asked why he is bothering to target kids. "It is partly because I have two daughters, and also because for generations we have screwed up our environment so badly," he said.

But he has high hopes for the next generation. "This is the generation that is getting the environmental message from an early age," he said. "If any generation is going to start changing things around them, it will be the generation coming up."

He said he didn't want to bludgeon kids with environmental messages. "I wanted to give them a sense of empowerment that they can do something about the issues in the book," he said.

In the end, the two main characters, a one-eyed toad, and a teddy bear, decide to create a safe environment in the teddy bear's back yard.

In reality, local naturalists would like to see more Bermudians making backyard 'toad abodes'.

This is because some of Dr. This is because some of Dr. Bacon's findings suggest that the safest, least toxic place for toads is in backyard home ponds.

Dr. Bacon has found that the least toxic places for toads to breed are often in back yard ponds that are kept clean. Her research has identified petroleum products of combustion and heavy metals as being responsible, at least in part, for the deformities seen at many sites including in our nature reserves. However, pesticides may be involved at other sites, particularly golf courses.

"Making backyard toad abodes is something the kids can do to take action in their environment," said Mr. Stevenson. "When they grow up they can expand it to the larger world."

He said in order to raise environmentally sensitive children it is important to talk about the issues.

"You have to take your time to talk about it," he said. "You have to pick your opportunity when they are asking a question without preaching. That turns kids off."

Mr. Stevenson said his older daughter, Elsa, five, is so far a bit blasé about her father's second book.

"She reads the part of the little girl for the audio book," said Mr. Stevenson. "I put it on in the car. I was watching her in the rearview mirror. She was sucking on a bottle of milk, but I could see the slight twinge of a smile on her face.

"But when the first book arrived on the doorstep she was so excited. She sat on the couch and went through the whole book. She couldn't read, but she almost had it word for word. I had gone over it so many times, and she'd heard me editing it on the film software in my office."

His first children's book 'The Turtle Who Ate a Balloon' was about how turtles are killed or injured by floating helium balloons.

"Often they die this horrible death," said Mr. Stevenson. "The helium balloons go up in the air and then come down in the ocean. When the colour wears off they look exactly like a jelly fish. Every time I have found a balloon or plastic bag in the ocean it always has bite marks out of it."

When asked if he would have balloons at his daughter's birthday party, Mr. Stevenson said: "Are you crazy? She wouldn't even have them. The kids get the messages a lot better than adults do.

"You don't have to spell it all out for the kids."

Both of his children's books were published through the Bermuda Audubon Society and 'Bermuda's Toad With One Eye' will be available in local stores early next month.