A River of Dust: The Life-Giving Link Between North Africa and the Amazon

by Jilanne Hoffmann (Author) Eugenia Mello (Illustrator)

A River of Dust: The Life-Giving Link Between North Africa and the Amazon
Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade

Over and Under the Rainforest meets This Is How We Do It in A River of Dust—a celebration of global interconnectedness with an environmental lens, at a time when we need it most. It is science with a beating heart.
 

I am dust,
the dust of North Africa.
I connect continents.

 
The dust of the Sahel—a ribbon of land between the Sahara and the savannah—lifts with the harmattan wind each winter season. But this is not just any dust. The Sahel's dust will mix with dust from the Sahara and travel thousands of miles westward, across the African continent and the Atlantic Ocean, to reunite with its unforgotten home deep in the Amazon basin.
 
Told from the perspective of dust, A River of Dust takes readers on a journey through vibrantly illustrated landscapes, celebrating the power and wonder of Earth's ecosystems, and showing how these tiny particles are key to the health of our planet. It is a lyrical ode to global connection and to the vital roles that even the smallest among us can play.

GLOBAL CONNECTION: Just like This Is How We Do It, this book shows how we are all interdependent on this tiny blue marble hurtling through space. 

SMALL PARTICLES, MIGHTY IMPACT: This powerful story of the Sahel's very necessary contribution to the world demonstrates how one of the driest places on earth nourishes one of the wettest. And if dust has such a far-reaching effect, readers can imagine how important their own impact could be on the world around them.

EDUCATIONAL TOOL: With strong STEM themes, this book offers plenty of ideas to incorporate into lesson plans, from units on geography and environmental science, particularly lessons on the rainforest, global warming, and interconnected ecosystems. Educator guides can be found at the author's website.

SOOTHING BEDTIME REASSURANCE: Poetic and yearning, this picture book's gentle message reassures readers that they can remain connected with loved ones despite the distance that may separate them.

LUSH ART: Depicting vivid landscapes, from the deserts of Africa to the rainforests of the Amazon, illustrator Eugenia Mello brings this lyrical picture book to life. The gold spattering of foil dust on the jacket makes this cover glow!

QUESTIONS FOR CURIOUS MINDS: Meticulously researched information included at the back of the book provides further explananation and compelling scientific facts for curious readers and supplemental information for teachers. Did you know that an average of 700,000 semi trucks worth of dust makes the journey each year? That there are more trees in the Amazon than there are stars in the Milky Way Galaxy? That NASA satellites have been measuring the dust for over 15 years? That the continents may rejoin about 250 million years from now?

Perfect for:

  • Resource for teachers and librarians seeking books about nature, the earth, and ecology for kids
  • Parents looking for non-fiction picture books and science books for children
  • A beautiful environmental picture book and lyrical story for anyone interested in learning about ecosystems and the environment
  • Fans of Over and Under the Rainforest, Over and Under the Pond, and other popular nature books for young readers
Select format:
Hardcover
$18.99

Kirkus

An artistic introduction to a compelling sedimentary journey.

None

Poetic text... Illustrations of landscapes and animals in warm earth tones with pops of bright color and nuance in their textures and shading will enchant many young readers.

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review

"Millions of years ago,/ no ocean lay between us./ You and I were one." This moving tribute to global interconnectedness narrates from the perspective of the dust of North Africa. On the dust's long journey to deliver phosphorus to the Amazon, the harmattan wind sends it on from the Sahel, and on "across grasslands/ and through bulbous baobab trees" before it crosses the Atlantic. Smudgy strokes and thin-lined figures by Mello suggest the dust's constant movement and the entities that witness its incredible migration. At voyage's end, it delivers an emotional declaration of deep and abiding association: "I end my journey here, with you,// renewing our connection." Distinctive lines by Hoffman lend a seriousness to this story, which prompts sincere awe for the natural world. Detailed back matter and an author's note conclude. Ages 5-8. (July)

Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

"Poetic text... Illustrations of landscapes and animals in warm earth tones with pops of bright color and nuance in their textures and shading will enchant many young readers." — The Horn Book

Jilanne Hoffmann
Jilanne Hoffmann is a children's book author with a BS in Engineering and an MFA in Creative Writing. She has traveled to the Amazon rainforest highlands in Peru, collected the dust of six continents in her shoes, and plans to see the dust swirl in Africa's Sahel and Sahara Desert before she turns to dust. Jilanne lives with her family in San Francisco, California, where dust from China's Gobi Desert flies on the wind, on its way to feed the trees of the High Sierra.

Eugenia Mello is an illustrator and graphic designer from Buenos Aires, Argentina. When she was seven years old, she moved to Costa Rica, where she was surrounded by the most incredible nature. She was deeply impacted by the majestic scenery she saw: enormous leaves, infinite greens, the rainbow colors of the animals, and the myriad of small creatures, from insects to frogs. This experience has shown her that everything on this planet is connected, bound together by invisible ties that we might not see but which are there, keeping everything alive in a delicate but ever-so-strong balance. She has an MFA in Illustration and lives in New York City.
Classification
Non-fiction
ISBN-13
9781797211756
Lexile Measure
1180
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Chronicle Books
Publication date
July 25, 2023
Series
-
BISAC categories
JNF051100 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Science & Nature | Environmental Science & Ecosystems
JNF038050 - Juvenile Nonfiction | People & Places | Caribbean & Latin America
Library of Congress categories
Picture books
Amazon River Region
Minerals
Atmosphere
Dust
Atlantic Ocean
Africa, North
Mineral dusts
Sahel
Plant nutrients
Atmospheric circulation

Subscribe to our delicious e-newsletter!