Small Matters: The hidden power of the unseen by Heather Ferranti Kinser

 This fascinating nonfiction picture book takes a look at some infinitesimally small things, as seen through powerful microscopes.

The simple introduction and text talks about the importance of small things and each page speaks, in poetic language, of different things in nature too small to see. Readers will see the strength of the snail's radula, the ridges that make a shark's skin help it zip through the water, microscopic structures that change the colors of a butterfly's wing, and the tiny hairs that help a water strider walk on water.

Each spread shows a photo of the animal on the left and a single descriptive sentence, "Small things can HOLD UP things that are bigger." On the right is a slide of the creature seen through a microscope and a slightly longer explanation, "A water strider walks on water. Its long legs are covered in supersmall hairs that press on the surface without breaking through."

Back matter gives a simple explanation of a scanning electron microscope and the scale, or nanoscale, of things seen through it. There is a section of thumbnails of the microscope slides with a few more details of each, further reading (which of course includes Do not lick this book) and photo credits.

Verdict: This is a little expensive, coming from Millbrook, but there are only a small number of books featuring microscopes and this is so nicely put together, and accessible for young readers and listeners, that I think it's worth the cost. I would have liked a little more scientific language (I put in radula, it never actually uses that) but that's my only concern.

ISBN: 9781541578142; Published April 2020 by Millbrook/Lerner; Borrowed from another library in my consortium