A Gift of Dust

March 1, 2025
Preschool-Grade 2 Plumes of dust originating in the Sahara, big enough to be seen from space, are the subject of this illuminating picture book showcasing an unusual phenomenon and emphasizing the interconnectedness of life on our planet. In short, descriptive lines, Brockenbrough describes how ancient fossils in North Africa are blasted by the wind, causing particles from those fossils to travel across the ocean, where the dust feeds plankton, to the Amazon rain forest, where the plume replaces minerals in the soil leeched away by heavy rains. Martinez-Neal's watercolor artwork is full of swirling golden splatters and speckles across each scene, which emphasizes the ubiquity of the dust and the importance of the process. The lyrical focus on the cyclical nature of materials on our planet is nicely balanced by more concrete facts, such as the surprising weight of the plume, and detailed back matter offers yet more information on the dust, including distinguishing between regular household dust and the Saharan dust. Brockenbrough's subject here might seem insignificant, but she persuasively draws attention to its vital importance with this appealing, eye-catching presentation.

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March 15, 2025
Traveling plumes of dust demonstrate how interconnected our planet is. Brockenbrough tells the story of dust as it journeys from a dried-up Saharan lakebed to the Amazon. Over the course of thousands of years, a dead trout dies, decomposes, and fossilizes. Wind churns the fossils up from "the cracked earth the lake has left behind"; the fossils turn into dust "that paints the sky," then crosses the ocean as its feeds plankton, which in turn nourishes sharks, fish, and whales. By the time the dust plume has encountered hurricanes and sprinkled the Amazon with phosphorus, which is crucial to plants, it's large enough to see from space--the weight of "almost 262 billion basketballs." Brockenbrough lays out a thorough, informative story about how a speck of dust connects continents and species, providing nutrition to flora and fauna and allowing the oceans to produce oxygen for us to breathe. Caldecott honoree Martinez-Neal's art is a showstopper, however. Her mixed-media illustrations on hand-textured paper command attention, from the endpapers mapping the "Route of the Dust" to the ghostly remnants of fossils in a dust storm to a gorgeous bird's-eye view of the Amazon and the tender hands of a brown-skinned adult and child, who will be the recipients of dust's good work in the future. A natural wonder, brought to vivid life. (further info about dust, websites, further reading)(Informational picture book. 4-8)

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Starred review from April 1, 2025

Gr 3-6-This illuminating book brings an often-overlooked natural phenomenon to life as dust travels on the wind from a dry lake in Africa across the Atlantic Ocean to South America and beyond. The story begins with a pregnant mother by a crib as dust motes show in the light. The impact dust has on different biomes is explored: "It sifts into the water, providing nutrients that help the sea make the air we breathe." Size and weight are explained in visual terms. Rainfall in the rainforest as deep as "a stack of twenty capybaras balancing on each other's backs" is described as the rain mixed with dust falls on a village where capybaras are playing. "There is so much dust that astronauts can spot it from space" shows an astronaut viewing Earth with the planet reflected on their visor and their tether spiraled like an umbilical cord. The narrative returns to the room with the mother now holding her baby: "This dust... of what once lived sustains what lives today." The text is poetic in its imagery. The mixed media illustrations are full of careful details in dreamy, soft colors with speckles of dust moving across the pages to create a sense of wonder. Information on the Saharan dust, along with websites and books for additional resources, are provided. The end pages show the dust's route. VERDICT A beautiful blend of text and drawings shows the cycle of life through dust. Reminiscent of Carole Lindstrom's Water Protectors in its masterly marriage of narrative and illustration, this outstanding exploration of a natural phenomenon is a very strong first buy.-Tamara Saarinen

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