A River of Dust: The Life-Giving Link Between North Africa and the Amazon

Over and Under the Rainforest meets This Is How We Do It in A River of Dust—a celebration of global interconnectedness with an environmental lens, at a time when we need it most. It is science with a beating heart.

I am dust,
the dust of North Africa.
I connect continents.

The dust of the Sahel—a ribbon of land between the Sahara and the savannah—lifts with the harmattan wind each winter season. But this is not just any dust. The Sahel's dust will mix with dust from the Sahara and travel thousands of miles westward, across the African continent and the Atlantic Ocean, to reunite with its unforgotten home deep in the Amazon basin.

Told from the perspective of dust, A River of Dust takes readers on a journey through vibrantly illustrated landscapes, celebrating the power and wonder of Earth's ecosystems, and showing how these tiny particles are key to the health of our planet. It is a lyrical ode to global connection and to the vital roles that even the smallest among us can play.

GLOBAL CONNECTION: Just like This Is How We Do It, this book shows how we are all interdependent on this tiny blue marble hurtling through space.

SMALL PARTICLES, MIGHTY IMPACT: This powerful story of the Sahel's very necessary contribution to the world demonstrates how one of the driest places on earth nourishes one of the wettest. And if dust has such a far-reaching effect, readers can imagine how important their own impact could be on the world around them.

EDUCATIONAL TOOL: With strong STEM themes, this book offers plenty of ideas to incorporate into lesson plans, from units on geography and environmental science, particularly lessons on the rainforest, global warming, and interconnected ecosystems. Educator guides can be found at the author's website.

SOOTHING BEDTIME REASSURANCE: Poetic and yearning, this picture book's gentle message reassures readers that they can remain connected with loved ones despite the distance that may separate them.

LUSH ART: Depicting vivid landscapes, from the deserts of Africa to the rainforests of the Amazon, illustrator Eugenia Mello brings this lyrical picture book to life. The gold spattering of foil dust on the jacket makes this cover glow!

QUESTIONS FOR CURIOUS MINDS: Meticulously researched information included at the back of the book provides further explananation and compelling scientific facts for curious readers and supplemental information for teachers. Did you know that an average of 700,000 semi trucks worth of dust makes the journey each year? That there are more trees in the Amazon than there are stars in the Milky Way Galaxy? That NASA satellites have been measuring the dust for over 15 years? That the continents may rejoin about 250 million years from now?