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Description
Take a magical ride around the globe to see the wonders of a single moment in a story illuminating our precious and fragile natural world.
Our planet is always turning. It may be midnight in London, but in different time zones other living things are waking up, ready to hunt or feed or fight. As the clock strikes twelve, two sisters are spirited away on a journey to glimpse, in the span of a moment, extraordinary biodiversity: a mother polar bear and her cubs hunting seals in Svalbard, tiny turtles in India following the moon toward the sea, and enormous whale sharks gulping plankton in the Philippines.
Quietly profound, this glowing tribute to the natural world—and reminder of its fragility—blends accessible science, lyricism, sweeping artwork, and a call for climate awareness into an ideal companion book for Earth Day, or any wondrous day on Earth.
Davies and Desmond use time zones as the framing for a conservation-oriented tour of Earth in this eye-opening journey led by two kids, both portrayed with brown skin. The pair begin at nearly midnight in Greenwich, London, then head to Svalbard at 1 a.m., where they spot a polar bear mother and cubs: "Every year now the ice melts earlier, making hunting hard. The future of this little family is not certain." At 8 a.m., they swim among whale sharks in the Philippines, while a 4 p.m. stop at California's Pinnacles National Park finds them nestled in a red wildflower. On each page, text contrasts the beauty of the setting with the danger lurking from human-caused environmental damage. Lushly imagined mixed-media illustrations offer a birds-eye view, suggesting the vastness of the planet with documentary-style spreads of penguins dotting the snow far into the horizon or hundreds of baby sea turtles covering a moonlit beach. The suggestion that all this ecological magic exists at the same time buttresses the direct call to save the Earth. Creators' notes conclude. Ages 6-9. (Mar.)
Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.
Kirkus
A journey around the globe highlights ecological dangers the world over. . . Beautifully illustrated.
Nicola Davies is a zoologist and an award-winning author whose many books for children include Surprising Sharks, Extreme Animals, and Gaia Warriors. She lives in Wales. Emily Sutton has a degree in illustration from Edinburgh College of Art. She says, "Illustrating Tiny Creatures has opened my eyes to the incredible and unexpected beauty of a world so small that it can't be seen without a microscope. I was amazed by the variety and complexity of microbes, and I loved drawing all of their intricate details and patterns." She lives in York, England.
