A scarab beetle, agile and free,
In search of friends, it yearned to be,
But when a social group it sought,
It found itself in captive thought.

With no one to adapt and play,
It longed for friends to come its way,
And so it dug a burrow deep,
Where it could hide and rest and sleep.

But soon it found, to its surprise,
Some larvae with big, curious eyes,
And as they looked upon its feature,
They saw a friend, a kind creature.

They played and laughed, they ran and crawled,
Until the scarab beetle called,
"I may be different, that's true,
But we're all part of a species too!"

And so the scarab found its place,
Among the larvae in that space,
No longer captive, but instead,
A friend, with whom to live and tread.

Reflections

Here are a few questions that could help children think about the story:

1. How did the scarab feel at the beginning of the story? How did it feel at the end?
2. What did the scarab do to try to find friends, and what happened?
3. How did the larvae react when they saw the scarab, and why?
4. What did the scarab learn from its experience with the larvae?
5. How do you think the scarab's life would have been different if it hadn't found the larvae?
6. Can you think of a time when you felt alone or like you didn't fit in? What did you do?