A little girl finds her beloved beach full of rubbish — and learns that tiny hands can help the whole sea shine again.

Layla loved her island beach best of all — the soft white sand and the waves that sang all day.

But one morning she saw something sad: bits of plastic and rubbish washed up along the shore.

A tiny hermit crab was stuck inside an old bottle instead of a pretty shell. “Oh no!” said Layla.

Gently she set him free and found him a lovely spiral seashell. “Thank you! I’m Kakuni,” he waved.

“But who made all this mess?” Layla wondered. Her beautiful beach looked so untidy and unwell.

“We can help,” said Mama, handing her a little woven basket. “We just start — one piece at a time.”

So Layla began. A bottle here, a wrapper there — plink, plink — into the basket they went.

Her friends saw and came running to help. Soon lots of little hands were tidying the sand.

They filled basket after basket, singing together as they worked under the warm sun.

By afternoon the beach sparkled clean, and the sea sighed a happy, gentle sigh.

Kakuni scuttled out with all his crab friends to play on the soft, clean sand.

“When we care for the sea,” smiled Layla, “the sea shines right back at us.”