Booklist Review of Vital to Earth! Keystone Species Explained

In the Vital to Earth! Keystone Species Explained series, readers get a chance to learn about plants and animals that play important roles in their ecosystems. Beavers highlights these adorable creatures’ skill at building ponds and dams, which, in turn, help protect the wetlands where they and countless other creatures live. Mangrove Trees showcases how these fantastically rooted trees adapted to living in saltwater, allowing them to protect coastlines and inland bodies of water in addition to creating healthy habitats for plants and animals alike. In Prairie Dogs, readers will learn more about this chipper ground squirrel, which inhabits grasslands stretching from Canada to northern Mexico and whose landscaping habits result in healthy soil and burrows for myriad critters. Sea Otters looks at the food web within kelp forests, explaining how otters’ diet of kelp-munching creatures keeps these marine forests from disappearing. Each book offers an easy, quick, and informative read and ends with lessons on how people can save these species and their ecosystems. A glossary and further-reading list concludes, the latter also featuring a QR code linking to online resources. This series will make a solid addition to science collections and help students learn about the flora and fauna that keep the natural world in balance.