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World Without Birds: How to Save the Planet, One Bird at a Time manages a near-impossible feat: providing hope in a book about extinction.
WORLD WITHOUT BIRDS, written by Nick Lund and illustrated by Asia Orlando
Author and birder Nick Lund manages outreach for Maine Audubon, runs The Birdist blog, contributes to Audubon, Slate, and National Geographic—and manages to also write books for kids. His 2024 book, Dinosaurs to Chickens: How Evolution Works received the Junior Library Guild Gold Standard, an award given to top-tier children’s books. For this project, Nick was approached by publisher Workman Kids to write a companion book to the award-winning World Without Fish.
World Without Birds opens with what this world would be like, and then outlines the ways that humans are causing extinctions. Nick writes that “while climate change is the latest of our environmental impacts we’ve recognized, it might be the most dangerous of all.” But the message in this book is positive: “if we want to prevent birds from going extinct, we need to look our mistakes in the face and fix them. In some cases, it’s too later; in many cases, it’s not.”
“American scientists have identified nearly 400 bird species, about two-thirds of all American bird species, that are at risk of extinction from rising temperatures.”
World Without Birds is structured by ecosystem. Each chapter begins with a gorgeous two-page full illustration spread by illustrator Asia Orlando, and then delves into the specific issues of that ecosystem. Each chapter has section on what that would happen in that ecosystem if birds disappeared—for example, in tropical forests, the effect would be an insect apocalypse. The chapters conclude withs two case studies: one of a bird that has gone extinct, and the second of a bird where conservation efforts have been a success.
Illustrator and digital artist Asia Orlando is based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Her illustrations in World Without Birds are bright and friendly and accurate—and show up on every spread. Combined with plenty of white space between the lines and on the page, opening this book feels like an invitation. Aimed for kids age 10 and up, it would also be a great fit for younger readers with stronger reading skills.
Asia Orlando’s illustration of a Great Auk with sailing ship approaching in WORLD WITHOUT BIRDS
Asia’s passion for art and the environment led her to create the illustration movement Our Planet Week in 2020 to spread environmental awareness. The annual event is not a competition. Instead, it’s an open invitation for everyone to draw what they love about the world. Seven years in, more than 33,000 artworks have been shared. The partnership between Our Planet Week and One Tree Planted led to the planting of over 11,000 trees.
Climate anxiety in children is real. This book can help them move from anxiety to action.
The final chapter in World Without Birds is “What Can We Do?” and is packed with resources. There are details on jobs that protect birds like ornithologists and bird guides and environmental lawyers. There are groups to join like Audubon and Cornell Lab and American Birding Association and the Bird Conservancy. In addition, there are actions to take, including writing letters to elected officials. Lund delves into planting natives, turning out lights, keeping cats inside and more. As he notes, “the future for all birds—and our entire planet—is at stake.”
The “What Can We Do” chapter of WORLD WITHOUT BIRDS provides kids with long-term and short-term ways to save birds and protect the planet
This is a book for school and home libraries, and for children who care. With its emphasis on how far we have come in conservation efforts, it’s for all the kids who want to step in and protect the planet.
World Without Birds, written by Nick Lund, illustrated by Asia Orlando
Workman Kids, 2026; ISBN: 978-1-5235-1802-9
$16.99 US; 176 pages, ages 10 and up
Written by Susan Wroble
Susan Wroble has always paid attention to the birds around her, perhaps in part because Burd is her middle name! She is always happiest when outside gardening and listening to birdsong. Coming from a family with a strong commitment to service, Susan started volunteering after college with two years in the Peace Corps in the Independent State of Western Samoa, where she taught high school math and science. Currently, she volunteers as leader of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Society for Children’s Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and at the Colorado Children’s Hospital. She also leads a long-term Denver-area support group for parents of Twice-Exceptional Children. Susan’s degrees are in electrical engineering and foreign affairs, but her great love is children’s books. She writes nonfiction, and tends to focus on stories that share a message of hope in this era of climate change. She has written four children’s books for the school library market. Her book DAWN CHORUS: PROTECTING BIRDSONG AROUND THE WORLD is scheduled for publication with Holiday House in 2026.
English (US) · 
French (CA) ·