Noah Builds an Ark

A storm is coming — a big one. How does a young urban boy prepare? A lovely allegorical story about ecology and caring inspired by the ancient tale of stewardship.

While his family readies his townhouse for an approaching storm, boarding up windows and laying in groceries, Noah heads to the back garden, where beetles are burrowing deeper into the bark and mice are stuffing their hole with moss. Quickly and efficiently, Noah sets to work building an ark for them and other backyard creatures — salamanders and toads, snakes and spiders, even brightly colored hummingbirds. Setting out fistfuls of nuts and leaves, berries and seeds, the boy props a flashlight inside and arranges some miniature furniture for the animals to sit or sleep on. “Come,” Noah whispers to his friends just as his mother calls him inside and the dark storm roars in. From an award-winning author and a Caldecott Honoree comes a quietly inspiring story about how taking action on behalf of our fellow earth travelers can help us face fearsome events.

Kate Banks is the award-winning author of more than forty books for children and young adults, among them the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award winner And If the Moon Could Talk, illustrated by Georg Hallensleben. Kate Banks lives in Monaco with her husband and two sons.

John Rocco is the coauthor of the young adult novel Swim That Rock and the illustrator of many books, including Katherine and John Paterson’s award-winning The Flint Heart, of which Bookpage said, “John Rocco's digitally colored pencil drawings provide a perfect complement, glowing with fairy light.” John Rocco lives in Los Angeles.