About the Holiday

In 2005 animal behaviorist and philanthropist Colleen Paige established National Wildlife Day to promote an awareness of the importance of conservation of animals, habitats, and the environment worldwide as well as to acknowledge the education and conservation work of zoos and animal sanctuaries. To honor the memory and birthday of Steve Irwin, National Wildlife Day is also celebrated on February 2. To celebrate today’s holiday, take time to learn about what you can do to help protect the environment. 

Thanks to Beach Lane Books for sending me this book for review!

We Are the Keystones: Animals That Hold Habitats Together

Written by Katy S. Duffield | Illustrated by Hannah Salyer

Just as you and your family might be lost without your neighborhood grocery store, park, or library, Katy S. Duffield introduces eleven “nature-hoods” and a keystone species that keeps each thriving “. . . just by doing what they do. / They make a difference when they roam, / or when they eat or build a home.”

Duffield begins each scintillating profile with a factually descriptive, rhyming poem that describes the keystone species’ behavior and exactly how it affects the area in which it lives. On the opposite side of each two-page spread, Duffield expands on her informative verse with a short paragraph of clear and illuminating prose. Here, she calls out specific creatures who benefit from the keystone’s influence as well as how, for example, the keystone’s felling trees, culling herds, digging, and even pooping profoundly and positively impact ecosystems around the world.

Children meet the beaver, whose dams create pond and wetland homes for a multitude of living things and also “filter and clean the water, producing a healthy environment for all the creatures that live there.” The humble black-tailed prairie dog, likewise, is a hero of grasslands, whose tunneling provides crucial aeration that “helps new vegetation grow” while offering small reptiles and animals protective homes.

Readers are also prompted to look to the sky to get to know a tiny South American bird that uses its unique features to ensure all flowers are pollinated. They are then plunged into the sea to meet a fish, a marine mammal, and a tiger shark, who unapologetically affirms: “With scanning eyes, we glide and seek. / We hunt the sick, the dead, the weak. / We’re scavengers—that’s what we do. / It sounds disgusting, yet it’s true.” And what does eating these tasty snacks accomplish? Duffield explains that “. . . [it] can keep disease from spreading to healthy marine life,” among other benefits. Duffield also highlights two other mammals, a fierce reptile, and an unusual bird before rounding out her book, Duffield with the gentle giants that help the savanna support its vegetation and wildlife with a simple (for them) act that lets the sun shine through.

Katy S. Duffield’s immersive storytelling will spark a fascination in children for these sometimes under-appreciated animals that are in fact critical to the world’s ecosystems. Her inclusion of poetic and prose descriptions of each creature will appeal to a wide range of readers and give educators an exciting resource for engaging all students.

In her arresting gouache paintings, Hannah Salyer transports readers to misty, sun-drenched, and mysterious “nature-hoods” to witness keystone species in action. A Black-tailed prairie dog surveys its terrain, teeming with buffalo and pronghorn deer as children spy the creatures taking advantage of the “hotel” below ground. A grizzly bear snaps its sharp teeth to catch a salmon in flight, and a southern cassowary stretches its beak to swallow whole a “tennis-ball-size seed.” Sayler unveils the colors, textures, and diversity of each ecosystem, giving readers much to digest and learn from. A final clever two-page spread presents a web of connected animal silhouettes that will send kids back through the pages to find them in their natural habitat.

A standout nature and science nonfiction picture book, both textually and visually, We Are the Keystones: Animals That Hold Habitats Together will appeal to children of varying learning styles. The book is a must for all library collections and would be a favorite for classroom and home bookshelves as well.

Ages 4 – 8

Beach Lane Books, 2026 | ISBN 978-1665946896

About the Author

Katy S. Duffield is the author of more than twenty-five books for children, including the celebrated Crossings: Extraordinary Structures for Extraordinary Animals, which was an ALA/ALSC Notable Book, a Bank Street Best Book of the Year, and the recipient of the Eureka! Excellence in Nonfiction Gold Award. She lives in Florida with her husband and her wild and crazy Australian Shepherd. For more information about Katy, please visit her website at KatyDuffield.com.

About the Illustrator

Hannah Salyer received her BFA in illustration and communication design, with a minor in environmental studies, from Pratt Institute. She resides in Brooklyn, New York, where she writes and illustrates picture books, including her own Packs: Strength in Numbers and Ancestory: The Mystery and Majesty of Ancient Cave Art, as well as This Wolf Was Different by Katie Slivensky. She also teaches art classes for young kids and illustration classes for undergrad students at Parsons School of Design. Visit her at HannahSalyer.com.

National Wildlife Day Activity

Wonderful Wildlife Board Game

Fascinating animals are found in every part of the world. Play this fun printable Wonderful Wildlife Board Game to match each animal to the area where it lives.

Supplies

• Printable Global Wildlife Map, one map for each player
• Printable Wildlife Tokens, one set for each player
• Printable Dice-Rolling Guide for Animal Tokens
• 8-Sided Die or Printable 8-Sided Die 
• Colored pencils, crayons, or markers (optional)

Directions

1. Print a Global Wildlife Map for each player
2. Print one set of 16 Wildlife Tokens for each player
3. Print two copies of the 8-sided die, fold, and tape together
4. If you would like, color the map and tokens
5. Choose a player to go first
6. Each player rolls both dice and places an animal on their map according to these corresponding sums of the dice below
7. The first player to fill their map is the winner!

You can purchase We Are the Keystones: Animals That Hold Habitats Together from these booksellers

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop

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