A RIVER OF DUST

Soil travels from the Sahara to the Amazon.

The narrator is the personification of dust in Africa addressing the Amazon. It reminisces that “Millions of years ago, / no ocean lay between us” but that “slowly, great forces tore us apart,” referring to the continental drift. The voice reassures that “I’ve found a way to reach you, / to sustain you, / to help you flourish.” The focus is on a collection of soil that originates in the Sahel in Africa. This section of land stretches across several countries “between / the Sahara Desert, to the north, / and the tropical savanna, / to the south.” As the wind blows, this collection of phosphorus-rich dust crosses the Atlantic to eventually settle and enrich the soil of the Amazon rainforest. The lyrical narrative focuses on the whimsical aspects of the journey. The spare text (“the smudge on a finger, / the grime that swirls down a drain”) is woven into Mello’s bright and speckled textured illustrations. Dust is found trailing a charging group of gazelles in the savanna or swirled in the wing of a pelican over a colorful village on the riverside. Particles of dust are even lost “falling into a dolphin’s eye,” “perhaps floating forever” in a bustling ocean scene. The soil reaches its final destination, renewing the connection between biomes and highlighting the interconnections in the natural world. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

An artistic introduction to a compelling sedimentary journey.