Mary Auld’s 2024 picture book Tiny Floating Coral is part of her Start Small, Think Big series. These informational books educate young learners about the natural world. Most of the books focus on life cycles, as this one does. Some, like the 2025 Small Sparkling Raindrop, follows water though its cycle.
La Scarlatte’s illustrations are a major part of this book’s success: the images of coral and surrounding creatures like crabs, seahorses, and a range of fish, are bright, well-rendered, and well-distributed: readers can distinguish one from another easily. The cut-away in the cover is also appealing, as is the foldout spread showing an entire coral colony (found near the book’s end, late in the coral life cycle).
I didn’t find Auld’s story as engaging as her Small Mighty Dung Beetle, but it is clearly written and smoothly explained throughout. An accessible window on the natural world.
