This stunning children’s non-fiction hardback is the accompaniment to the Netflix series Our Planet. This is the kind of book that readers young and old will love to pore over, from the powerful photographs of melting ice caps to the facts and figures about palm oil plantations and endangered sea life. There is so much to learn and think about.
The book has a foreword by Sir David Attenborough, who says ‘You will be among the next characters who can, if they wish, tell the most extraordinary story of all – how human beings in the twenty-first century came to their senses and started to protect Planet Earth’.
What follows is a visual ode to Planet Earth told through extraordinary photography from the series combined with appealing illustrations that draw in younger readers and help them to understand nature’s amazing interplay of habitats and ecosystems. Small sections of text further explain the images, giving snapshots of animals’ lifestyles as well as presenting hard-hitting facts about the dangers they face. We learn how orangutans have incredible mapping skills to navigate their jungle homes but also how we lose 100 orangutans a week due to human actions like hunting and deforestation. We find out how beautiful lantern-fish light their own way along with 17-metre long oarfish in the high seas, but also how plastic peril and high-seas fishing put the incredible marine life there in danger.
The tone of the book is one to inspire rather than to frighten readers into action. The book is not at all without hope for the future, and the nudge to make personal changes comes through simple tips like choosing products carefully and supporting sustainable fishing. Moreover, with photographs as stunning as these, it is hard for readers of all ages not to feel inspired to take steps to protect the natural world from our own destructive actions.
With something to offer to the whole primary age range and beyond, this is the kind of nonfiction book that inspires and informs in equal parts and is one to treasure in classrooms and homes.
