Extinctopedia: Discover What We Have Lost, What Is at Risk, and How We Can Preserve the Diversity of Our Fragile Planet AND The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History (Young Readers Adaptation)

By Serenella Quarello, illustrated by Alessio Alcini, translated by Margaret Greenan. Red Comet Press, 2024. 64 pages. $26.99/hardcover; $12.99/eBook. Recommended for ages 9–12.

By Elizabeth Kolbert. Godwin Books, 2024. 224 pages. $24.99/hardcover; $12.99/eBook. Recommended for ages 8–12.

These are two very different books published this year for young scientists who are ready to grapple with the impacts of humanity on our environment.

As one might expect from a book published in collaboration with the Smithsonian, reading Extinctopedia is like wandering through a museum. Each two-page spread is a new room in an exhibit on the fragility of life. The author explores aspects of conservation biology while highlighting numerous extinct, endangered, and vulnerable species in short blurbs and vignettes. Illustrator Alessio Alcini brings animals and their habitats to life with detailed drawings in colored pencil. Children will enjoy flipping through the book, reading captions for illustrations that capture their eyes and imagination or using the index of the animals in the back to find specific creatures about which they are curious. Those who wish to proceed through the book from start to finish will follow a loose arc starting with extinction stories and efforts to preserve specimens from lost species, moving into reasons for extinction, efforts to stop species’ decline, and vignettes of endangered animals.

If the first book evokes a museum, The Sixth Extinction is more like attending a riveting lecture series—the kind where you think that 30 minutes have passed, but then you look at your watch and it’s been 90. Elizabeth Kolbert, author of the original Pulitzer Prize-winning The Sixth Extinction published for adults in 2014, describes her journey across the globe to interview scientists studying diverse ecosystems, species, and artifacts to better understand humankind’s impact on our environment. Adapted for young readers by John Kleiner, this book is a deep dive into the science of how we understand the natural history, present, and future of our world.

The thesis is clear and well-supported: humans have caused a mass extinction event, and we are currently in the middle of it. Kolbert details numerous conservation efforts, but the book closes by declaring the sixth extinction “our most enduring legacy.” Despite this pessimistic ending, I found the book fascinating, empathetic, and wonderfully educational, as it focuses on how we know what we know about extinction. It describes fossils that allow paleontologists to affirm that there have been five great extinction events prior to this; the layer of iridium-rich clay that allows geologists to support the theory that an asteroid killed the dinosaurs; and the studies of underwater vents off the coast of Italy that allow oceanographers to study dissolved carbon dioxide’s impacts on underwater ecosystems, among other experiments and observations.

The publisher’s suggested 9–12 age range for Extinctopedia seems spot on, though some vocabulary might be a stretch for those at the low end of the age range. (It was first published in Italian as Estinctopedia in 2022.) The Sixth Extinction is recommended for ages 8–12; however, only the most precocious third or fourth grader would appreciate the vocabulary and explanations. A side-by-side comparison of the prologue and first chapter of the original book and this young readers edition shows that Kleiner has crafted a shorter but not necessarily simpler adaptation. In my opinion, the elevated language, complex topics, and sobering content make it more appropriate for adolescents in the 12–16 age range.

I strongly recommend both books but for different audiences. Younger readers will enjoy Extinctopedia, while adolescents who have a passion for science will find The Sixth Extinction a more gratifying read.

---

Laura Barrosse-Antle lives in Washington, D.C., where she has been a science teacher at Sidwell Friends School for 13 years.