Spanish / Chile
Bajo tierra. El mundo subterráneo que nos da la vida
(Under the earth. The underground world that gives us life)
Pohl, Nélida
(text)
Ca_teter
(illus.)
Santiago de Chile: Escrito con Tiza, 2024. – 61 p.
(Series: Colección Binocular)
ISBN 978-956-6049-65-4
Non-fiction | Ecology | Soil | Biology
Reading age: 6+
White Ravens issue: 2025
Most people probably walk around carelessly, without giving a thought to what lies beneath their feet: namely soil aka earth. Perhaps it is no coincidence that earth – so substantial for life – has the same name as our planet Earth. »Bajo tierra« is a very well-made informational and stimulating interactive book. The information is compact, easy to understand, and by no means dry. The book explains, for example, how soil forms and how this process unfolds infinitely slowly, that earth is a densely populated living space of interconnected beings, or that it is the world’s largest recycling plant, and yet it is often poorly treated by humans. The second part, »Into the laboratory«, encourages readers to mould bricks from clay, create colours for rock paintings, build a water filter from soil, and much more. The illustrations blend information and fiction. Rendered in Ca_teter’s characteristically detailed and bustling style, they are well suited to depicting the universe of soil and its countless organisms and creatures. [JW]