Safe Crossing by Kari Percival, reviewed by Juno Lamb
“The spring peepers are singing so loud it makes my spine tingle.”
This beautiful new children’s book, winner of the Ezra Jack Keats Award, shares the story of a family and community’s care for the amphibians in their neighborhood, especially on Big Night, the first warm, rainy night (or nights) of springs when amphibians migrate en masse from their winter habitats in upland woods to wetlands and vernal pools. With joyous colorful images, Can You Find pages, and extra science notes, how-tos, and a glossary at the end, this book will appeal to a wide range of ages.
Along the way you will meet many of New Hampshire’s amphibian species, learn about their life cycles, experience the excitement of a Big Night Amphibian Crossing Brigade, and learn just about everything you would need to know to advocate and fundraise for safer amphibian crossings where you live! The only question the book can’t answer, because we humans don’t know, is: how do the amphibians know it’s time to migrate? “Do they taste the warm rain? Do they smell the skunk cabbage blooming?” How do you think they know?
Thanks to Green Mountain Conservation Group for requesting this book review for their 2025 Spring Newsletter and for permission to reprint it here.
Banner image: A spotted salamander emerging from a snowy bank. Photo: Lynne Flaccus