As a digital subscriber, you’ll receive unlimited access to Horn Book web exclusives and extensive archives, as well as access to our highly searchable Guide/Reviews Database.
To access other site content, visit The Horn Book homepage.
To continue you need an active subscription to hbook.com.
Subscribe now to gain immediate access to everything hbook.com has to offer, as well as our highly searchable Guide/Reviews Database, which contains tens of thousands of short, critical reviews of books published in the United States for young people.
Thank you for registering. To have the latest stories delivered to your inbox, select as many free newsletters as you like below.
No thanks. Return to article
48 pp.
| Chronicle
| July, 2023
|
TradeISBN 9781797211756$18.99
(2)
K-3
Illustrated by
Eugenia Mello.
he narrator here is dust from North Africa speaking directly to its destination, the Amazon rainforest. Poetic text meditates on the way Africa and South America were once joined: "Millions of years ago, no ocean lay between us. You and I were one. And then slowly, slowly, great forces tore us apart, creating seven continents surrounded by vast oceans." They are still connected by dust that blows continuously from the Sahel across the Atlantic to the Amazon, where it provides nutrients that support the Amazon basin's lush growth. Glorious digitally rendered double-page spreads echo the text's mood, mixing the particulars of cram-cram grass and baobab trees with expressionistic imagery that reinforces a sense of flow. Illustrations of landscapes and animals in warm earth tones with pops of bright color and nuance in their textures and shading will enchant many young readers. The vivid vocabulary and soothing cadence of the text are pleasing, if light on specifics; extensive back matter provides some thoughtful support for ecologically minded children and caregivers.