LITTLE BROWN NUT

In an invitation to “Think Big,” a fallen Brazil nut explains where it came from and what it will grow into.

In Amazon rainforest settings that teem with flora and fauna, Auld and Cooper follow the nut as it is buried and forgotten by an agouti (“like a guinea pig, but with longer legs”), then germinates and over many years grows into a majestic tree that houses wildlife from tiny Brazil-nut poison frogs to harpy eagles. Adding additional details delivered in smaller type to join the nutty narrator, the author describes how the flowers, which have evolved to be accessible only to female orchid bees, are pollinated and become nuts that fall either to grow, to be eaten by animals, or to be gathered by human “castañeros”—who also protect their livelihoods by helping to protect the trees from illegal loggers. The Brazil nut tree is a “rainforest superstar,” she concludes on a foldout page at the end, and can live for a thousand years if allowed. The same foldout features maps of rainforests worldwide, as well as images of animals that appeared in previous scenes for readers to go back and spot.

Nutritious and digestible, just like its narrator.