WHAT'S IN YOUR POCKET?

If you’re a child who collects nature’s treasures, you’re in good company.

This cleverly conceived and appealingly executed title addresses young readers directly, connecting their noticing and collecting habits to those of others who continued to observe, collect, and organize in adulthood. Montgomery introduces a grandly diverse array of nine naturalists, researchers, and explorers from Maria Sibylla Merian, who studied butterflies in the 17th century, to Bonnie Lei, whose present-day research focuses on sea-life conservation. Three are people of color, and the majority are female. The young George Washington Carver collected seed pods; deep-sea explorer William Beebe collected birds’ eggs; and young Jane Goodall put worms under her pillow! Other profiles include Charles Darwin, tree-canopy explorer Margaret Lowman, herpetologist Diego Cisneros-Heredia, and fossil hunter Mary Anning. The vignettes from childhood are engaging, well paced, and smoothly told. Short introductions to the adult scientists follow, in a smaller font. In her author’s note, the writer introduces the concept of naturalist intelligence. Lechuga’s friendly illustrations feature the brown-skinned girl with Afro puffs and overflowing pockets shown on the cover as well as the scientists as children, then as adults, in appropriate times and places. The backmatter includes more about the grown-up scientists and the author’s own sensible “rules for collecting,” which involve respect for nature, the people she lives with, and herself (safety). The illustrator reminds readers that habits of observation are something she also shares with scientists.

Inspiration for nature-loving children.