Night Becomes Day; Changes in Nature by Cynthia Argentine; illustrated with photographs; Millbrook Press/Lerner, 2022. 32 pages; $27.99 (hardcover, reinforced library binding); reading level: Ages 7-12.
Academic credentials can distance a nonfiction writer from young readers. Here, the author’s degrees in English, environmental science, and environmental law have accomplished the opposite. Argentine’s meticulously-researched narrative is infused with a sense of childlike wonder as she addresses the deceptively simple concept that nature is always on the move, “always at work, transforming.” Page-by page endnotes in combination with the more lyrical body of the text allow her to embrace both the precise and the figurative aspects of her subject: stalactites and stalagmites (terms used only in the backmatter) are (in the body of the text) “mineral spires,” “teeth and towers” which are “unhurried in their dark lair.” Words, stunning photographs, typeface, and page layout all join forces here to celebrate nature’s breathtaking changes across time and space. This is that rare book that will captivate a broad audience of young readers: from the visual to the auditory, from the realist to the metaphorical, from the scientist to the dreamer.
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Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge, Author
Biography | View
- Just Fine They Way They Are (Calkins Creek, March 1, 2011)
- The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton (Clarion Books, 2010)
- Thank You Very Much, Captain Ericsson! (Holiday House, 2005; Berndtsdotter Books, 2012)
- When Esther Morris Headed West (Holiday House, 2001)
- The Legend of Strap Buckner (Holiday House, 2001)
- Wicked Jack (Holiday House, 1995)
Speaker / Presenter
Connie is an experienced speaker and presenter who enjoys sharing her passion for writing and her experience as a writer with readers and writers of all ages. She has presented to students, community, civic and professional organizations, writing groups, library audiences, and seniors – wherever book lovers gather!
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