Debut picture book author Megan Clendenan (Design Like Nature) and illustrator Brittany Cicchese (No More Señora Mimí) skillfully combine their talents in the accessible, atmospheric picture book collaboration Just in Case.
Eight hundred miles from the North Pole, on a Norwegian island, in a frozen mountain is a global bank that holds only one kind of currency: seeds. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is a repository that stores duplicates of every seed housed in every single one of the "1,700 seed banks around the world." Clendenan's narrative explains the importance of collecting seeds: "Just like California condors, grizzly bears, and monarch butterflies need care, so do seeds--otherwise they could become extinct." Through a story-like text and supplemental sidebars, Clendenan emphasizes the special needs of seeds and the extraordinary work required to create and fill this perfect storehouse: thawing permafrost, blasting mountains, avoiding polar bears, even preparing the seeds themselves. "The packets... are tested. Water, heat, air, even stomping feet!" Cicchese's digital art adds layers to Clendenan's narrative as it uses a soft, rounded line to depict the different locations around the world (the swirls of the Northern Lights; the bending stalks in a rice paddy) and highlights the humanity of those harvesting and storing the seeds (family pictures on a wall; childlike drawings on a box).
Detailed backmatter enriches the reading experience further, offering additional resources for budding agriculturalists and conservationists. Just in Case emphasizes the universal importance of the seed bank through diverse imagery and representation, allowing young readers to withdraw plenty of riches from Clendenan and Cicchese's bank of knowledge. --Jen Forbus, freelancer