# The Snail with the Right Heart: A True Story - Hardcover

by **Maria Popova** (Author), **Ping Zhu** (Illustrator)

**★ A** _**Kirkus**_ **Best Book of 2021: A Best Informational Picture Book  
**★ **A** _**Marginalian**_ **(formerly** _**Brain Pickings**_**) Best Children's Book of 2021  
**★ **A _Spirituality & Practice_ Best Spiritual Book of 2021**

**Based on a real scientific event and inspired by a beloved real human in the author's life, this is a story about science and the poetry of existence...**

_The Snail with the Right Heart_ is a story about time and chance, genetics and gender, love and death, evolution and infinity--concepts often too abstract for the human mind to fathom, often more accessible to the young imagination; concepts made fathomable in the concrete, finite life of one tiny, unusual creature dwelling in a pile of compost amid an English garden. Emerging from this singular life is a lyrical universal invitation not to mistake difference for defect and to welcome, across the accordion scales of time and space, diversity as the wellspring of the universe's beauty and resilience.

This boldly illustrated book about evolution for children features a large gatefold that opens up to immerse readers in the story and will help kids understand that nature is all about differentiation and that being different is beautiful.

### Author Biography

**  
Maria Popova** is a reader and a writer, and writes about what she reads on  
_Brain Pickings_ (brainpickings.org), which is included in the Library of  
Congress permanent web archive of culturally valuable materials. She is the  
author of _Figuring_, co-editor of  
_A Velocity of Being: Letters to a Young Reader_, and the creator and host  
of The Universe in Verse--an annual charitable celebration of science through  
poetry at the interdisciplinary cultural center Pioneer Works in Brooklyn.  

  

**  
Ping Zhu**'s illustrations are frequently seen in the _New York Times_ and  
other reputable publications, but also some questionable ones. She is a  
graduate of ArtCenter and gave tours there as a work-study job. In 2013, she  
won the ADC Young Guns award for being simultaneously young and talented.  
Though she is no longer eligible for "30 Under 30" accolades, her goal in life  
is to create work that will ideally age well like a fine wine. Or even an okay  
wine. Ping's children's book debut,  
_The Strange Birds of Flannery O'Connor, A Life_, published in June 2020  
and was selected by the _New York Times_ as a Best Children's Book of  
2020.  

**Number of Pages:** 56

**Dimensions:** 0.6 x 11 x 11.2 IN

**Illustrated:** Yes

**Publication Date:** February 02, 2021

## Details

- **Price:** 18.95 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 18.95 USD | In stock |

## Images

- The Snail with the Right Heart: A True Story - Hardcover

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