Amazon Adventure: How Tiny Fish Are Saving the World’s Largest Rainforest

This addition to the Scientists in the Field series follows Scott Dowd, senior aquarist at the New England Aquarium and self-proclaimed “fish nerd,” as he ventures into the Amazon as part of ongoing efforts to protect tiny tropical fish that fill aquariums around the world. Montgomery (The Tapir Scientist) joins Dowd and others who are part of Project Piaba (“small fry” in Portuguese) as they head up Brazil’s Río Negro. Color photographs (many underwater) and captivating, take-you-there storytelling immerse readers in the ecosystem: “We pass trees that seem to be barely holding their crowns above the water.... We’re hot, eager to enter the cool, dark river. Within a minute, tiny fish are nipping at our skin.” The journey includes a visit to an ornamental fish festival that explodes with its own color. Addendums to each chapter provide facts on other, sometimes deadly, Amazon species. The message underneath this true and fascinating fish tale: protecting fish, such as cardinal tetras, and the sustainable fisheries and fishers (piabeiros) that catch them, can help protect the Amazon rainforest itself. An expansive and engaging story of biological interconnectedness and beauty. Ages 10–12. (July)