Rajcak, Hélène. (Illus. Damien Laverdunt). Unseen Worlds: Real-Life Microscopic Creatures Hiding All Around Us. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: What On Earth Books, 2019.
Unseen World might not be the right book for those every-ready for a case of the heebie-jeebies. However, for those that are interested in the microscopic world, it fits the bill! With the richly detailed, scaled to much larger than life illustrations, fans of all things science and fans of all things gross will love getting their hands on this book.
Rajcak has organized the book’s content around where to find groups of microscopic creatures: underwater, at the beach, in your bed (yikes!), on your skin (double yikes!), in the forest, in your kitchen (ew!), and more. The text describes each ecosystem in just the right amount of detail, with the unusual feature of an icon that shows how much magnification is required to see the image shown. The fold out flap on every page provides details on each creature that is shown on the accompanying double page spread.
Rajcak gives us end matter worth reading to the last page: one page on microscopes including an easy-to-follow diagram; a short lesson on scale and magnification, and more. We also get a short history of the microscope, a lesson on classifying Microorganisms, a glossary, and an index.
Unseen Worlds: Real-Life Microscopic Creatures Hiding All Around Us is a first-tier priority for any elementary school and middle school/junior high 500 section.
Dewey: 590 Interest Level: Grades 3-7
Awards and Reviews: Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal starred, Booklist, Publishers Weekly.
Younger Readers might like: The Book of Brilliant Bugs by Jess French (Illus. Claire McElfatrick)
Young Adult readers might like: World of Microbes: Bacteria, Viruses, and Other Microorganisms by Janie Levy.
Fiction pairing: Bugs in My Hair! by David Shannon
On the Web: Nikon’s Museum of Microscopy at https://www.microscopyu.com/museum