Earth Book II: Life and Death

Matilda Ruta

This is the second part of Matilda Ruta’s acclaimed non-fiction series Earth Book. A teemingly rich, innovative and ingeniously constructed book in two parts. Facts, storytelling, and crafts are interspersed with questions and reflections. The prequel, Earth Book: Time, explored the history of the Earth and the dramatic impact of humans on the planet, despite our relatively short existence. The second, standalone part of the series, Earth Book: Life and Death, is about how everything in nature is connected in an ingenious cycle – that which lives and grows, as well as that which has withered, died and begun to be transformed into nourishment for new life. And how we humans are also part of those processes.
Life and Death consists of two parts. When you have read Life, you turn the book over and start over with Death. In the middle, the perspectives unite, and the cycle closes. Alice’s nature diary – a recurring feature in the book – inspires the reader to explore and notice the nature around them for themselves. It reflects the changing seasons and through the nature diary, the reader gets to follow along in small and large discoveries that show how all living things are connected. It is playful and thought-provoking, and even complex ecological relationships are explained in a way that children can understand.

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