A Gift of Dust: How Saharan Plumes Feed the Planet
by Martha Brockenbrough; illus. by Juana Martinez-Neal
Primary, Intermediate    Knopf    40 pp.
5/25    9780593428429    $19.99
Library ed.  9780593428436    $22.99
e-book ed.  9780593428443    $11.99

“When a sunbeam slips through a window in a certain slant of light, you can see a scattered sparkle: dust!” Light, airy illustrations dotted with golden specks float across the pages, lending a near-magical atmosphere to a story that starts with a mother-to-be in a child’s nursery and then travels through space and time, providing clear and fascinating scientific explanations of Saharan dust along the way. Saharan dust appears in a region adjacent to the now-dried-up Lake Chad in northern Africa and comprises fossilized animals once living in the area. With straightforward depictions in both text and illustrations, the huge plume of dust is shown visible from space (as the text notes, it weighs about the same as “one hundred and twenty million female hippos”). Particles float westward, feeding the ocean with nutrients and plankton with nourishment that is passed on to the marine animals that feed on them. When traveling over the Amazon rainforest, the dust brings phosphorus, replenishing what’s been washed away with yearly rains. As Brockenbrough concludes, “This dust…of what lived once sustains what lives today.” An author’s note enlarges on the text and includes resources for further inquiry.

From the July/August 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.