Many: The Diversity of Life on Earth

With a streamlined narrative and intricate, folk-art images evoking Mary Blair-illustrated Golden Books, Davies and Sutton, the team behind Tiny Creatures: The World of Microbes, sound an alarm about species extinction. Employing the concept of one versus many, the book asks, "How many different kinds of living things are there on our planet?" The answer is "Many!" and busy scenes of flora and fauna showcase an abundance of life across diverse ecosystems. Other spreads resemble pages from a field guide, with labeled vignettes of life forms, such as the SpongeBob fungus. The positive vibe ends, however, with a spread showing the various ways humans are destroying habitats. A redheaded girl--the book's "tour guide," who has admired and taken notes on wildlife--appears solo and sad on the last page, with the text warning, "We could not keep living on Earth if we had to count down instead of up from many to one." Though the conclusion is dire (and no solutions to overpopulation are offered), this early entree into environmental interconnectedness and stewardship should launch plenty of discussion. Ages 5-8. (Nov.)

Copyright 2017 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

PreS-Gr 1--A call to all young children to notice the rich diversity of life, its interconnectedness, and humanity's role in its devolution. Representing readers' potential to understand these concepts is a red-headed, freckled, pig-tailed girl taking it all in. She uses binoculars to see details in a jungle canopy, wears scuba gear to get close to ocean life, and takes notes wherever she stands, clipboard and pen in hand. The brief text lacks animal identification on most every page, naming only a few of the individual fora and fauna except for two spreads, one introducing new species and the other identifying extinct ones. On a serious note, young observers glimpse destruction of habitat and life and the ecological damage by farming, fishing, industrial, and construction practices. Gravity, hope, and joy are all intertwined in Davies's and Sutton's presentation. VERDICT The quality of the watercolors and text make this an appealing choice for large libraries that serve young children.--Nancy Call, Santa Cruz Public Libraries, Aptos, CA

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Davies has a keen sense of how to represent science for beginners. Sentences as sensible and jargon-free as "Sometimes, things that look different are really the same...and things that look the same are really different" contain deep mathematical and biological concepts that include ecosystems and interdependence, relative quantities, biomes, food webs, and the classification of living things.
—The Horn Book (starred review)

Writer and zoologist Davies celebrates the "big, beautiful, complicated pattern" that is life on Earth...A pair of spreads show first a lushly populated rain forest and then the same area with some trees cut down and animals leaving; the third in the sequence shows a museum exhibit of extinct species. We can't survive as one. A sobering message presented gloriously.
—Kirkus Reviews

With a streamlined narrative and intricate, folk-art images evoking Mary Blair-illustrated Golden Books, Davies and Sutton, the team behind Tiny Creatures: The World of Microbes, sound an alarm about species extinction...this early entrée into environmental interconnectedness and stewardship should launch plenty of discussion.
—Publishers Weekly

Jam-packed watercolor illustrations fill most pages of this picture book that details the diversity of plants and animals around the earth...This book would supplement curriculum about the environment, and could be used as an activity book for preschoolers.
—School Library Connection Online

Many: The Diversity of Life on Earth is especially appropriate for young children and offers numerous possibilities for learning about colorful plants and animals...it is sure to be enjoyed by nature lovers of all ages.
—BookPage

A call to all young children to notice the rich diversity of life, its interconnectedness, and humanity's role in its devolution...Gravity, hope, and joy are all intertwined in Davies's and Sutton's presentation. The quality of the watercolors and text make this an appealing choice for large libraries that serve young children.
—School Library Journal

Living things form a pattern that is 'big, beautiful, complicated, ' writes Nicola Davies in 'Many: The Diversity of Life on Earth' (Candlewick, 40 pages, $15.99), a picture-book appreciation of the natural world for children ages 3-6.
—The Wall Street Journal