MAKING MORE

A basic guide to how plants and animals make more plants and animals.

There are lots of strategies. “But,” Roy writes, “the pattern stays the same: meet, merge, and create something new.” Studiously avoiding direct references to human reproduction in her narrative (though covering it in her author’s note), Roy opens with simple language and then goes on to explain in greater detail how various flora and fauna accomplish each element in the pattern—from attracting mates (“Future Prince,” reads a sign next to a frog) and making gametes to creating external seeds and eggs or internal safe spaces for early stages of development, leading up to birth. Her language is specific enough to include terms like uterus and amnion, and, though she’s not above putting party hats on a newly hatched snake, in general she depicts the insides and outsides of her figures with naturalistic precision, adding select but helpful anatomical labels and explanatory captions. Her fulsome backmatter includes suggestions for backyard nature study and a detailed account of the “incredible dance moves” performed by splitting chromosomes during meiosis. Meanwhile, glimpses early on of a possibly biracial pregnant couple with a child that culminate in a closing double gatefold view of their arrival at a picnic attended by people diverse in age and skin color silently add a certain other species to the lineup.

A perennially hot topic explored with a deft mix of specific details and light touches.