The Dirt!: Wild Life Under the Soil’s Surface

Gr 2-6–Following the format of her two previous titles, The Deep (about oceans) and The Dark (on caves), The Dirt starts with introductory chapters on soil which sets the stage for the following chapters that delve into the wildlife found there. Those four chapters are divided by size of the creatures—mico, meso, macro and mega. With varying levels of description, Leigh covers an astounding 75 different flora and fauna within those chapters including nematodes, rotifers, springtails, potworms, antlions, gopher tortoise, and caecilians just to name a few. She ends with a two-page chapter on saving the soil and an index of soil creatures.The book’s tone is light, fun, and informative while not shying away from key elements of soil such as death, decomposition, and poop. The use of panels, word bubbles, inserts and dynamic text placement keep the format dynamic without crossing into frenetic. Her illustrations are a humorous and accessible mix of realism and anthropomorphism which will have wide appeal.