VANISHING SEA

Once one of the largest lakes on Earth, the Aral Sea has all but vanished from the map.

At the end of the Ice Age, melting glaciers form the great Aral Sea between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The people call it “Mother Sea,” though it’s really a massive freshwater lake. Mother Sea offers her people the biggest fish to eat, provides them with clean water to drink, and lends her banks to bustling cities. But eager for more, the people take and take Mother Sea’s resources until nothing remains of the great lake but a vast desert whose soil is filled with toxins. In spare, thought-provoking prose, this microhistory of the Aral Sea delivers a cautionary tale about the consequences of exploiting our planet. Rendered in blues and sandy browns, Mirtalipova’s striking pastel illustrations lend the story a swirling, fairy-tale quality, while swaths of arresting red mark the moment the people begin to drain the sea’s abundance, shifting the tone from dreamy to foreboding. Minimalist storytelling and in-depth backmatter work in tandem to create a book that will speak to a wide range of readers as it highlights the devastating loss of such a resource in only a few decades. Illustrated figures are Central Asian with brown skin and dark hair; an author’s note includes photos of Mirtalipova’s own family, hailing from Uzbekistan.

A moving, memorable book that washes over readers with a call to stewardship.