Planet Ark: Preserving Earth's Biodiversity

by Adrienne Mason, Margot Thompson (Illustrations)

Young readers can learn how to be modern-day Noahs and protect the world's plants and animals from extinction not by building a giant boat, but by making small changes in their everyday lives -- from planting trees to turning off the tap -- to help preserve the world's biodiversity. Planet Ark is part of CitizenKid, a collection of books that inform children about the world and inspire them to be better global citizens.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Animals, Environment, Picture Books, Nature

32 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2013

Reviews

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a book that I tucked in while I was reading another book as they kind of shared the same vague biblical-focused theme and leaned on the same biblical story as their vehicle. Planet Ark: Preserving Earth's Biodiversity only alludes to the story by suggesting that the planet is an Ark and that we can be Noahs in helping to preserve the biodiversity of this world/ark that we live on.

The book explores the biodiversity of the planet by exploring such topics as what is biodiversity and how it is explored within genetics, habitats and species. The reader is then further taken on to explore ecosystem services provided by biodiversity as well as the benefits provided to the food chain. It then explores what it means to protect wild places through biodiversity, to study biodiversity of the dirt as well as soil contributions because of it.

And then the book ends up by exploring invasive species, overharvesting and global warming conflicts before getting into boosting and growing biodiversity. At the end the book re-explores why biodiversity matters, the contributions of modern child Noahs and how you can be one too.

The book is rather large and with small font while text heavy as such this would only make for a good read for older aged children who really are interested in the subject. Furthermore it is rather repetitive in both the text and the captions while each page also has further information randomly placed at the bottom of the page. Honestly if the book had been trimmed down and cleaned up a bit I think it would have gone a little farther in a reader's preference such as mine.

Otherwise the illustrations are brightly colored and quite detailed although not displaying the biodiversity that the book explores.

In the end it was okay for a book that explores biodiversity but I really don't see an actual audience who may prefer this book on their own selection.

[Lynn Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This very interesting and informative book about Earth's variety of life is a great classroom book. Nicely illustrated. It is divided into these chapters:
Planet Ark;
Biodiversity Times Three;
Living and Breathing Biodiversity;
The Real World Wide Web;
Saving Wild Places;
The Dirt on Biodiversity;
The Aliens Have Landed!;
Taking Too Much;
Cooling a warming Planet;
Boosting Diversity;
Growing Biodiversity;
Whey Biodiversity Matters;
Modern-Day Noahs;
You Can Be a Noah, Too;
Glossary.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like it's not very often you get a science book for kids that also makes connections to religion (Christianity specifically). Giving kids that opportunity to reconcile two communities that are often at odds is valuable, and is a reminder that science and religion don't always have to act in opposition.

Full of information and lovely illustrations.

[Lara Samuels · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a text heavy niche book for the avid science enthusiast. I am not sure that most students would check it out and stick with it. The additional notes/facts on each page were interesting and engaging.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book did a great job of making a complex subject very easy to understand.

[Jim Erekson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book clearly deals with the 'so what' question. There are multiple human and global impacts of biodiversity that make this a relevant book. The book shifts regularly in and out of basic science fact presentation and into social activism. In the end the book gives a dozen examples of specific people and projects that are activists in local, doable ways.

This book needed complementary illustrations. Each double-page was trying to do so much informational work, and the text had all the heavy lifting. Instead of spending illustrator time and effort on the small vignette pictures with captions, it may have been better to spend time illustrating the concept rather than just providing a mirror of part of the text. An example of this was the pages on pollination. For a highly diverse and complex topic, the bulk of the illustration just shows the cacao tree and the midge that pollinates it. The illustration only cooperates with about a tenth of the text on that page.

In a way, I don't see this as Margo Thompson's problem. She most likely received art direction and followed what the job was. Authors and editors need to take much more responsibility for engineering the relationship between text and pictures in storyboarding. Artists could certainly understand this kind of work, but on most information book projects I expect artists are told what is wanted rather than being asked to create a plan for the relationship of pictures to text.

It's frustrating. This idea of the relationship between text and pictures has been at the forefront of children's literature theory for over twenty years now, but I still feel like the bulk of children's books show no effort expended on this vital concept.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another winning title from the excellent CitizenKid collection of books published to foster global awareness, this book describes Earth’s biodiversity while explaining the effects of the loss of one species on other living things. Reminding readers that only a small portion of Earth’s species have been identified by scientists, the title celebrates the planet’s bounties while also sounding cautionary notes about the effects of alien species on native species, overexploitation of natural resources, global warming against a backdrop of acrylic illustrations depicting beautiful scenes from the planet. Young readers can also learn about modern-day Noahs intent on preserving Earth’s diversity as well as ways that they can become activists, taking actions to change the world and make sure to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle as well as Rethink, Refuse, and Rejoice. The book makes it clear that attitude adjustments can go a long way toward changing the world for the better. It's neat to look at the images of the animal- and plant-filled ark and ponder the possibilities of the species waiting out there to be discovered and what might be lost if those species disappear. This is a thoughtful exploration of an important issue.

[Julie Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book explores the concept of the earth as an ark and we, its citizens, as the Noahs that need to protect our ark. The book talks about biodiversity - what it is, examples of it on our planet, and how we can protect it. There is a lot of information packed into this book.

And...that's where it bogged down for me. If I have a student who is really interested in biodiversity and "saving the planet" then he will find this book worthwhile but it will be a hard sell. I didn't find it "fun" and it wasn't meant to be. It is a good, solid informational book.

[Karen Dransfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely book explaining about biodiversity in the plant and animal population. It covers why it's a good thing, how it helps everything to survive. It covers food chains, habitat care and makes it a fun read to learn about. And at the back there is a bunch of activities and things you can carry on with. A great book to explain how things work and what impact humans have on these delicate chains.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed for professional publication.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty text-heavy, but very informative and inspiring, with great pictures. Probably for ages 8-11.

[Samantha Godsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid read on biodiversity and still totally accessible for kiddos.