The latest book releases for curious minds

HIGH

EXPLORE THE WORLD FAR ABOVE OUR HEADS

AUTHOR JESS MCGEACHIN

PUBLISHER WELBECK EDITIONS

PRICE £14.99 / $16.95

RELEASE OUT NOW

High is part of a series of illustrated children’s books that includes Lost and Deep, respectively the disappearing wonders of the world and the hidden worlds below our feet. In High, author and illustrator Jess McGeachin encourages us to look up this time, or rather to imagine the world far above us where aeroplanes fly, birds soar and mountains tower. It begins with a very simple message – that from a great height the world below us is put into perspective and can seem very small and fragile. It’s a philosophical observation that was made popular in space exploration by an Apollo 8 astronaut watching the Earth rise over the Moon’s horizon, and astronomers who photographed Earth from billions of miles away as Voyager 1 left the Solar System. But on several levels, this title feels much closer to home.

High begins by looking up into a deciduous woodland canopy at the wildlife – feathered and furred – that call the treetops home. Then it’s to the trees themselves and across the world to the rainforests, where we get our first environmental message, how humans have flattened a third of all trees on Earth in just the last century. There’s a segue into the increasing heights of skyscrapers and how they’re constructed, and back to nature with prehistoric pterodactyls, butterflies and flocks. From there, High frequently switches from the natural world to heights that human technology allows us to explore despite the limitations of our biology: the peak of Everest, the cruising altitude of commercial airliners and, of course, space.