Crossings: Extraordinary Structures for Extraordinary Animals

Synopsis:

“This powerful nonfiction picture book explores wildlife crossings around the world and how they are helping save thousands of animals every day.

Around the world, bridges, tunnels, and highways are constantly being built to help people get from one place to another. But what happens when construction spreads over, under, across, and through animal habitats? Thankfully, groups of concerned citizens, scientists, engineers, and construction crews have come together to create wildlife crossings to help keep animals safe.

From elk traversing a wildlife bridge across a Canadian interstate to titi monkeys using rope bridges over a Costa Rican road to salamanders creeping through tiny tunnels beneath a Massachusetts street, young readers are certain to be delighted and inspired by these ingenious solutions that are saving the lives of countless wild animals.”

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Review:

After hearing rave reviews from patrons at the my library, I knew I had to check out this book! It is the perfect balance of nonfiction content and gorgeous illustrations. With short, simple sentences that could easily be read during a preschool storytime, this book teaches kids that science is not only really cool, but often helps people and animals. I love nonfiction books that can be read in a variety of ways. Often there is the text of the story written in a larger font. But, then there is also more information that you can read written in smaller font. Both pieces work together to make a book that can span a wide variety of ages.

For me, a nonfiction title for kids isn’t worth its weight if it doesn’t include some back matter. This book has a spread of more information about the animals from the book. And it also gives a selected bibliography and additional further reading. Katy even provides a link to her website where you can watch real animals using the crossings described in the book! It’s pretty neat! One of the videos mentioned that wildlife and vehicle collisions were down by 80% – what an amazing statistic!

Finally, you can’t talk about this book without mentioning the absolutely gorgeous artwork. Done in pencil and Adobe Photoshop, the illustrations are bright and bold with amazing texture throughout. The juxtaposition of the human world up against the natural world is shown beautifully. And the animals are just the cutest!

Verdict:

For a beautifully illustrated nonfiction book about science, animals, innovation, and heart, you’ve got to check out Crossings!

If you’re interested in purchasing Crossings: Extraordinary Structures for Extraordinary Animals by Katy S. Duffield, please use my affiliate links for Bookshop.org or Amazon.com. When you purchase from either of these links, I will earn a commission as an affiliate.

Need to Know:

Title: Crossings: Extraordinary Structures for Extraordinary Animals
Author: Katy S. Duffield
Illustrator: Mike Orodán
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: October 13, 2020
Page Number: 48 pgs.