No Monkeys, No Chocolate

No Monkeys, No Chocolate
by Melissa Stewart and Allen Young
Charlesbridge, 2013, unpaged nonfiction picture book

What does it take to make a cocoa plant grow? It takes sunlight, water and soil, but also midges, maggots and fungi. Stewart and Young use everyone’s favorite treat to teach about the interdependence of plants and animals in an ecosystem. The readable text is illustrated with child friendly watercolors that offer just the right amount of detail to make concepts clear without being overwhelming. A pair of commenting book worms at the corner of each page adds one more measure of fun to an already engaging STEM title.

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