Author-illustrator and Antioch alum Kari Percival’s new picture book Safe Crossing, which was published by Chronicle Books this past January, has landed on some high-profile end of the year must-read lists. Safe Crossing was named as one of only eleven chosen as Best Picture Books of the Year by Book Page, one of twenty books chosen for the prestigious Texas Bluebonnet List. Safe Crossing also appears on Kirkus Best Picture Books of the Year, New York Public Library Best Picture Books of 2025, Chicago Public Library’s Best of the Best Informational Books for Younger Readers, and also the National Science Teaching Association and the Children’s Book Council’s joint list of Outstanding Science Trade Books for students K-12.
As described in a starred Book Page review, “A wondrous nighttime adventure unfolds for a nature-loving family in Safe Crossing. As the narrator, a young girl, explains, ‘The wood frogs, spring peepers, salamanders—spotted, blue-spotted, and Jefferson—and other amphibians are crossing the road tonight.’ She, her parents and sister head out as part of the local Amphibian Migration Team to facilitate safe road crossings as the amphibians make their annual journey from the woods to vernal pools to lay eggs.”
Author Kari Percival says, “In reading Safe Crossing, I hope young readers and their care-givers will be inspired to find out about and join citizen-science wildlife conservation efforts wherever they live, whether in cities, towns or rural areas. Everywhere is somewhere important to our wildlife neighbors. Working with scientists to learn about other species who share our communities and put actions in place to help their populations rebound can bring real meaning to lives everywhere.”
Kari Percival earned her Master’s in Environmental Science and Science Teaching at Antioch University New England in 2001. Last spring, The Harris Center, Keene Public Library, and Toadstool Books hosted a reading and signing of Safe Crossing.
