Kelsey and Kim's latest brings author and illustrator together to spark conversations about an ineffable, arduous subject: death. Scientifically sound and philosophically profound, Kelsey's spare, graceful first-person text directly addresses a dying dearest while Kim's visuals provide insights from fellow life-forms' mourning rituals. Readers may watch through tears as elephants support the frail with tusk and trunk, whales lift their loved ones to the ocean's surface for a final breath, and chimps lay the ailing down to groom their hair. Forthright, euphemism-free language refreshes: These animals are indeed dying, and it's wise to acknowledge this fact. As life leaves the body, readers bear witness to howler monkeys crying out, hyenas sorrowfully cuddling, and gorillas silently tending to their beloved's final moments. Suspended from fishing wire in wooden frames, Kim's ink-and-watercolor illustrations are suffused with softest blacks and deepest blues, luxuriant greens and gentle magentas. Each diorama relies on illusions of depth to balance intricately detailed cutouts with stark backgrounds. Soon, mourners gather as a community. Orcas, elephants, and chimps assemble in a splendid spiral to pay respects while magpies and elephants place flowers and leaves as tokens of their affection. Eventually, melancholy melts into a sensitive celebration of the life cycle as bodies decompose and serve as staging grounds for new beginnings; "our lives plant a long line of love in this wild, thriving planet." Staggering. (author's note, website) (Informational picture book. 5-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Kelsey and Kim (You Are Never Alone) have previously collaborated on science-based stories about life on Earth. Here, they study animals at the ends of their lives. When companions are dying, higher mammals display behaviors that are complex and poignant: "I will tuck soft bedding behind your back," Kelsey writes, imagining a chimpanzee addressing another, "and carefully tend to your hair." After a death, killer whales assemble: "Some will travel long distances, and stay for many hours." And what happens after animals die? They become part of the earth: "Will tiny roots take hold... in the rich soil you nourish? Will new undersea communities flourish on the nutrients found in your skeleton?" In Kim's absorbing dioramas, hung from frames and photographed to create tender scenes of community, intimacy, and loss, the dying creatures are paler than their companions; they lie as if sleeping. Individual animals are painstakingly detailed, and paper trees filled with species form the illusion of hanging boughs. While the deaths portrayed by Kelsey and Kim are never violent, they are deeply sad in a way that befits their subject matter. Readers will appreciate the matter-of-fact, never emotionally prescriptive look at creatures' mourning behaviors. Ages 4--up. (Apr.)

When an animal of a particular species dies, how do their relatives experience the loss? In simple, poetic text, research scientist Kelsey explores how various species care for their dying and dead family members. Elephants, whales, and monkeys show emotion by stroking the dead animal, hugging it, or keeping the body close. They may gather the family together or drape the body with vegetation. Long after the animals say their last goodbye, nutrients in the decomposition process feed new plant and animal growth. And every species contributes to a "long line of love" on Earth. This stunning picture book is unusual in many ways, from its unique and seldom-explored topic to the illustrations done in collage and created using dioramas. Endpapers explain how each piece is created, cut out, and hung with very fine fishing wire from the roof of a hand-built wooden-box-frame diorama, which is then photographed. This beautiful depiction of how some highly intelligent animals express grief may help readers understand the human grieving process as well.

PreS-Gr 4--A chimp that seems to be ill is comforted by another; a dolphin beginning to slow down has a companion to swim with in its final moments; and elephants apparently make long journeys to send off a member who is about to die. The narration comes from a parent-like watcher, "When it comes time to say our last goodbye, I will wrap my trunk around you and support you with my tusks," in line after line of reassurance slightly modified to reflect the animals in the scene. A monkey comes to a rest, and "I will tuck soft bedding behind your back and carefully tend to your hair." Death occurs, and the narration ponders the miracle of the soil being nourished by the decaying loved one, or the nutrients of the skeleton as a sea mammal returns to nothingness. There is sadness in the loss of an animal comrade, whether death comes to an elder or to the ailing, but Kelsey resists overt sentimentalism with a constrained tone and matter-of-fact vocabulary. It's hard to explain the mysterious draw of the watercolor illustrations, which depict an abstract version of the natural world, and which offer body shapes and clues to actual animals but are not realistic. Their poetry comes from simplicity; the author's note explains that these scenes are based on witnessed events among animals.VERDICT A lovely piece of enhanced nonfiction, this title may also help with discussions on death among humans. Thoughtful and eye-opening.--Kimberly Olson Fakih, School Library Journal