Our Home, Our Only Home (Wondrous World)
Candlewick, March 2026
Illustrated by Sophie Diao
Find it at your local bookseller or order online from:
Born without fangs, claws, or wings, naked of fur or feathers, humans are the most vulnerable of Earth’s creatures. Our strength rests in our knowing. Early on, we put our big brains to work to tame fire, and over eons, our discovery helped us grow. Just two centuries ago, we began using coal, oil, and gas—remnants of long-ago life hidden deep within a generous Earth—to fuel fire, light up our nights, and run machines. Fertilizers let us reuse the soil. Pesticides killed the competition. We even dreamed up a synthetic “wonder” material called plastic. But our big brains tuned out the devastating effects of these actions. Can our knowing unravel the greatest crisis we’ll ever face? Stunning artwork evokes the climate emergency to scale in a third epic fusion of poetry and science from the author of We, the Curious Ones and The Stuff of Stars. Packed with hopeful action points, this portrait of a planet in peril is a plea to reconnect with our home, the source of all life, and a rallying cry for a generation coming of age just in time to turn things around.
Reviews
An amalgam of poetry and science rallies readers to help save the planet.
Bauer skips through Earth’s evolutionary history, then lingers on the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs and on the appearance of humans, “the most vulnerable / of all creatures.” Vulnerable, perhaps, but Bauer notes that “we used our big brains / to tame / fire,” which meant we were then eating better. The bigger our brains grew, the more we drew from Earth’s belly—oil, coal, gas—later creating pesticides and plastic, which polluted our water and soil. She succinctly summarizes humankind’s march toward a Sixth Great Extinction: “Only a humongous asteroid / ever brought more rapid change / than we have created / with our love / of fire.” Writing in lyrical free verse, Bauer argues that as latecomers to Earth, we’ve had an outsize impact on its health, which is vividly portrayed in Diao’s illustrations of starry nights, fiery caves, and denuded landscapes. In the second half of the book, more essay than free verse, Bauer suggests positive actions, such as turning to wind and water power. She lauds inspirational activists who began their work as teenagers—Greta Thunberg and Autumn Peltier—as well as organizations like Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots. Bauer then urges readers to dig within their vast imaginations: “Imagine a future in which this life-giving Earth is honored. In which life is protected. Every form of life. Not just our own.”
A necessary and optimistic call to action. (Informational picture book. 6-10) - Kirkus
