This book is a wonderful introduction to
microbes for young readers! Written by Welsh zoologist Nicola Davies, Tiny Creatures begins by giving readers
a quick lesson on the diminutive size of microbes. She uses easy descriptions
and size comparisons, like how a single drop of seawater can contain twenty
million microbes, and how that is about the same number of people who live in
New York State. And how a teaspoon of soil has about the same number of
microbes as people in India—about a billion!
Davies goes on to describe where microbes
live—inside rocks, in the back of your fridge, in you!—mixing microbe basics
and fascinating facts along the way. She reveals the many sizes, shapes, and
colors that microbes display, as well as how they eat without mouths and why
you can’t see microbe bite marks (hint…the things they eat change slowly).
Davies also does a wonderful job explaining how microbes split, and the big and
little consequences that we can see for ourselves—milk turns into yogurt, rocks
turn to soil, how we may get sick from microbes called germs, and that microbes
make snowflakes grow! Readers will delight in learning that microbes are the
best recyclers of all.
Tiny Creatures is an
excellent choice for a budding scientist, or any other child or adult who wants
to know more about how the world works. Davies takes a process we cannot
immediately see with our eyes and makes it visible, all with the support of wonderful,
vintage-feeling illustrations by Emily Sutton. This is a great addition to any
classroom!
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