It’s hard to imagine sharks living in Kansas, which sits near the center geographically of the U.S. and far from an ocean. But if you go back far enough, like 85 million years ago, an interior seaway separated North America into two land masses.

Melissa Stewart’s picture book, Sharks in Kansas: The Ancient Sea in the Middle of America, introduces curious children to a time when dinosaurs, pterosaurs, mosasaurs, and yes, sharks, roamed freely in the area. Each page, colorfully illustrated by Becca Stadtlander, features a scene from back then. A herd of Claosaurus strolls along a beach. A Squalicorax (shark) swims beneath the water’s surface.

Each page also includes the scientific names for the creatures who lived at this time, which will appeal to kids who love to learn about the world through nonfiction. At the end readers find an illustrated explanation of how the Western Interior Seaway came to be created and how it disappeared. Also, readers will find suggestions for reading more.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book for review.

Oak trees are some of the most important sustainers of habitat. Its leaves and acorns provide shelter and food to so many animals. Maria Gianferrari’s picture book, Just One Oak, is a celebration of these majestic trees and the many ways they provide support. The book opens with the lines:

“Just one oak…from the tip of its crown down to the ground, with roots all around, sustains so very many creatures, from the teeny-tiny…to the big and mighty.”

Page by page, the author details how every part of an oak, in all seasons, nourishes its environment. Illustrations by Diana Sudyka are rich and dense, showing wildlife of all kinds with labels, so children can see the entire system and how it works together. One two-page layout, for instance, shows a red oak in snow with a white-tailed deer underneath and a saw-whet owl sheltering in its leaves. The other side depicts spring, with an Eastern bluebird singing in the branches and new leaves budding out.

The extra cool thing about Just One Oak is how it transitions from simple picture book for the very young to deeper nonfiction facts for school age kids. So parents can read the flowing text to their toddlers and the fact-filled text to older kids. The more detailed copy covers topics like how acorns provide food and shelter for all kinds of critters.

Material at the back give more information on all parts of the tree, such as the bark, the leaves, the acorns, and the oak life cycle. There’s also a whole list of things children and families can do to support oaks, which are considered a keystone species.

The publisher provided me with a copy of this book for review.