Sibert medalist Walker has crafted 29 science-themed haiku, grouped by the subjects of earth, minerals, rocks, fossils, earthquakes, volcanoes, atmospheric and surface water, glaciers, and groundwater, and accompanied by Greenaway medalist Grill's hazy colored-pencil interpretations of each concept. The evocative full-bleed illustrations are primarily blue and red, and each piece is coded to a full page of back matter on the specific topic. For example, "fragile outer crust / shell around mantle and core Earth: a hard-boiled egg" has its metaphor explained with a narrative geologic description. Other poems are less directly instructional and feature impressionistic spot art, such as in the H²O section: "a flat stone, skipping / casts circles across the lake, / lassoing the fish. Contrasting this with the power of eruptions and tsunamis provides a broad, if not necessarily comprehensive, look at our planet, resulting in a lovely melding of science and art, perfectly positioned for our age of STEAM.

This haiku collection about Earth's geological and meteorological features combines correct terminology with a wry, child-friendly sensibility. Colored-pencil pictures are informal and sketchlike in some places and painterly in others, giving a sense of the places and action. Tiny jewels of poetry and oversize pictures will draw children into contemplating natural wonders. Symbols at the bottom of each illustration are explained in an appended section. Reading list.