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Secret Stories of Nature

A Field Guide to Uncover Our Planet's Past
Series: Secret Stories
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( 39 ratings, 20 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Secret Stories of Nature by Saskia Gwinn is a captivating children's book that reveals the hidden wonders of the natural world. With delightful illustrations, it takes readers on an exploration of nature's secrets, uncovering fascinating facts about plants, animals, and the environment. The book invites young readers to deepen their appreciation of the world around them while igniting their curiosity and desire to explore.
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Format: Hardback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this captivating children's book if you have a keen interest in discovering the fascinating mysteries and wonders of the natural world. It reveals intriguing stories hidden within nature's secrets, making it perfect for young readers who are curious about the environment around them.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

In every part of the globe, in every pocket of the sea, in ancient ground beneath your feet, up tall mountains you can't see, in stones, in plants, in birds and beasts, lie nature's secret stories. This beautiful field-guide explores the histories and mysteries hidden in the wild, just waiting to be shared.

Readers are invited on a journey around our wonderful world, through wild forests, over mountains high, to the bottom of our oceans and the earth beneath us. Each chapter investigates a different environment, and within, the pages tell the secret stories of the animals, plants, and natural phenomena of these habitats.

Some secrets tell us of links between species, or unusual adaptations and features, others tell us how nature has evolved, and many hold the keys to understanding our planet's past. Readers will come away with a wealth of knowledge and discover how looking at nature today can help us understand and unlock mysteries from long ago, from bygone weather to the dinosaurs.

They'll learn how resin and rock can preserve long-lost plants and creatures, how the rings inside coral skeletons can reveal weather patterns from the distant past, how layers of the seabed can indicate a previous mass extinction occurred, how ice can trap gases and tell us the make-up of our ancient atmosphere, and much more.

The text also touches on how these secrets are often uncovered through scientific research, observation, fossil records, as well as using modern inventions and techniques like carbon dating.

Spreads at the back of the book encourage readers to search for secrets in nature close to home and explore how we can all help protect the animals, plants and natural features of today so we can continue to enjoy and learn from them.

The fascinating information is brought to life with meticulously detailed, vintage-style artwork from Vasilisa Romanenko, making this book a true treasure trove for the whole family to enjoy.

Series: Secret Stories

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  • Secret Stories of Lost Beasts
    The secret lives and amazing adaptations of past creatures are revealed in this beautifully illustrated compendium of Earth's long-gone beasts. Buried far beneath the ground are secret stories of ancient lands. Stories from a time when dinosaurs with tails as big as whales towered over trees, birds had teeth, and super-fast sharks with saws for jaws swam through oceans and...
    Hardback
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  • Secret Stories of Space
    Pre-order
    Secret Stories of Space
    Above our heads where stars shine bright, and jets of light zoom through the night, and planets spin, and gases swirl... we search in space for cosmic worlds. All through the universe, there are countless galaxies, stars and brand-new worlds steeped in secrets just waiting to be uncovered. The secret stories and fascinating facts of our extraordinary, expanding universe are...
    Hardback
    $3299
    Pre-order
    Out 1 Sep 2026

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Secret Stories of Nature by Saskia Gwinn is praised as an ideal gift for curious young readers. The book is appreciated for sparking interest and exploration in the natural world, encouraging children to discover the hidden wonders around them.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780711280342

Publisher: Quarto Publishing PLC

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 05 October 2023

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Wide Eyed Editions

Contributors:

  • Illustrated by Vasilisa Romanenko

Audience: Children

DIMENSIONS

Width: 185.0mm

Height: 253.0mm

Weight: 350g

Pages: 64

About the Author

Saskia Gwinn has spent nearly 20 years carefully crafting beautiful books to inspire kids of all ages. She has worked as Head of Children's Non-fiction for Bloomsbury Publishing, as Editorial Director for A&C Black and as Editor for educational publishers and magazines. She has written and published award-winning books for every age and on every topic from how time began to the silliest things in the world today. Saskia lives in Hertfordshire with her two boys who hope dinosaurs will one day revisit Earth but, in the meantime, tells them that everything on the planet has an equally exciting story to tell. Vasilisa Romanenko is a New England-based illustrator, designer, and fine artist. Her artwork depicts the mystery, beauty, and fragility of nature through the use of botanical elements, intricate patterns, and animals. She sees her paintings as windows into a magical world, much like the one she enjoyed getting lost in as a child while reading fairy tales. The lush blooming gardens, birds, and insects in her work are all used to explore the human spirit and its connection to nature. Vasilisas primary medium is acrylic on canvas, although she works with watercolor, ink, and digital mediums as well.

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