"We walk on it, play in it, build with it, grow our food in it, and get antibiotics from it. But what exactly is soil? What makes it so important? Can we survive without it? ... Activities such as exploring soil runoff, composting, and analyzing soil composition offer kids the chance to get their hands dirty while coming face to face with the study of soil"--Amazon.com.

Kathleen M. Reilly is an award-winning writer and author of more than a dozen books, including several for Nomad Press: Planet Earth: 25 Environmental Projects You Can Build Yourself; Cities: Discover How They Work; Energy: 25 Projects Investigate Why We Need Power & How We Get It; and Explore Solids and Liquids! With 25 Great Projects. She lives with her family in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Bryan Stone is a cartoonist and the illustrator of several books for Nomad Press including Explore Night Science!, Explore Flight!, Explore Rivers and Ponds!, Explore Rocks and Minerals!, Explore Electricity!, and Explore Money!. He lives in Hartland, Vermont.