Entrepreneurship September 30, 2026 0 Comments

What the Resilient Corals After the Great Dying Can Teach Us About Surviving and Thriving in Today’s Cutthroat Market

Ever wonder what it feels like to witness the most terrifying extinction event Earth has ever seen—the Great Dying? Imagine a world where entire coral kingdoms vanished, and reef builders from 252 million years ago simply… poof, disappeared. It’s like hitting the ultimate reset button on nature’s underwater skyscrapers. Fast forward to today, and those coral reefs are gasping under the heat stress of near-annual bleaching events. Sounds bleak, right? But here’s the kicker—right alongside this natural drama, Martin Jenkins has been crafting compelling children’s books that not only illuminate the deep past but also inspire the next generation to care about what’s still thriving—and what’s on the brink. If you think coral reefs are just pretty underwater scenes, think again. They hold stories of survival, collapse, and a call to action like no other. Dive into how Jenkins blends science, storytelling, and conservation like a true master of the narrative game. Ready to see how history meets hope beneath the waves?

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Table of Contents

Key Takeaways

Martin Jenkins combines his background in conservation biology with engaging nonfiction books that help young readers understand wildlife, ecosystems, extinction, and conservation.
Creatures of the Coral Reef introduces children to reef ecosystems, explains how rising ocean temperatures cause coral bleaching, and explores practical conservation actions.
Jenkins’s books, including Under Threat: An Album of Endangered Animals and Can We Save the Tiger?, help readers understand endangered species, extinction risks, and conservation efforts.
The end-Permian extinction wiped out earlier reef-building corals, and reef ecosystems took approximately 14 million years to return with a different group of corals.
By connecting the deep history of life with present-day environmental challenges, Jenkins’s books encourage children to appreciate biodiversity and understand why protecting living species matters.

The corals that built reefs 252 million years ago are all gone. Two great groups of them, the tabulate and rugose corals, disappeared completely in the end-Permian extinction. According to the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, reef building in shallow seas then stopped for about 14 million years. When reefs finally returned in the middle of the Triassic, they were built by an entirely new group, the stony or scleractinian corals. Those are the corals on every living reef today.

They are under strain now. Between early 2023 and mid-2025, the world went through its fourth global coral bleaching event, and NOAA reports that heat stress reached 84 percent of the planet’s coral reef area across all three ocean basins, in at least 83 countries and territories. “We are now in the era where reefs will bleach on a near-annual basis,” said NOAA’s Derek Manzello.

That long view, from the Permian collapse to this decade’s bleaching, runs through the work of British author Martin Jenkins. His best-known book for older readers, Life: The First Four Billion Years, tells the deep history. The Story of Life on Earth, an independent video series made as an homage to Jenkins and that book, has recently covered the Great Dying and the recovery that followed. But most of Jenkins’s fifty-plus books are about the animals and plants alive right now, and many of them ask what it will take to keep them.

A Biologist First

Jenkins spent about ten years at the World Conservation Monitoring Centre in Cambridge before he wrote for children, and he still works freelance with conservation organizations, including WWF and United Nations bodies. His move into children’s publishing began when Walker Books asked him to advise on its Animals at Risk series. That background shows in how his books are built. They carry real data, including status categories, population figures and ranges, and they explain why animals are in trouble, not only which ones are.

Creatures of the Coral Reef

His newest picture book goes straight to the reef. Creatures of the Coral Reef, illustrated by Jason Cockcroft, was published by Candlewick in April 2026. It is 32 pages long, aimed at readers aged 5 to 9, and told from the point of view of a butterflyfish.

According to Penguin Random House’s listing, the book introduces the fish, shrimp, octopuses, jellyfish, sea turtles and sharks that live on a reef and explains how coral polyps hold the whole community together. Then it turns to bleaching caused by rising water temperatures. Back matter explains the causes of climate change and gives readers concrete steps they can take. Kirkus Reviews called it “an insightful call to action, loaded with visual appeal.” The Horn Book praised Cockcroft’s “realistic digital art in playful, vibrant hues,” and Booklist described it as a visually compelling addition to a children’s collection.

In the United States it can be ordered through independent booksellers such as Books & Books in Key West.

For older readers who have watched the Great Dying episode, the book makes an unexpected pairing. The polyps the butterflyfish swims among belong to the lineage that rebuilt the world’s reefs after the Permian extinction. They’ve already come back from one collapse.

Bleaching itself is a stress response. Reef-building corals depend on microscopic algae living inside their tissues, which supply much of their food and much of their color. When water stays too warm for too long, the partnership breaks down, the algae leave, and the coral turns white. A bleached coral isn’t dead yet, and it can recover if temperatures fall in time. Repeated bleaching year after year leaves it little chance to do that, which is why NOAA’s warning about near-annual events is so stark. Creatures of the Coral Reef explains that problem at a level a six-year-old can follow, and its back matter points to what scientists are trying and what families can do.

Penguins, Tigers and a Stamp Album

Jenkins’s reputation with younger readers was built on books like The Emperor’s Egg, which follows an emperor penguin father keeping an egg warm on his feet through the Antarctic winter. His Walker Studio author biography lists it as a winner of the Times Junior Information Book Award. Another early title, Fly Traps! Plants That Bite Back, was shortlisted for the same prize. Both books show his habit of choosing one striking animal or plant and letting the science come through its story.

Two of his books take on endangered species directly, and they approach the subject from different angles.

Under Threat: An Album of Endangered Animals, illustrated by Tom Frost, is designed like a stamp album. Each animal gets a two-page spread. One page is a fact file with a map, the animal’s class and family, its conservation status, its population and where it lives. The facing page is a full-page illustration drawn as a postage stamp. Tami Harris, reviewing it for the Oregon Coast Youth Book Preview Center, noted that the fact files come from Jenkins’s work as a conservation biologist and recommended the book for readers from 9 to 12 and up, for school reports on endangered species or simply to leave out as a coffee table book. Canadian readers can find it at Indigo.

Can We Save the Tiger?, illustrated by Vicky White, is older and more of a reading book. It starts with animals that are already extinct and then moves to species on the edge. Janssen Bradshaw of the book blog Everyday Reading called it a masterful offering and noted that it deals with the causes of extinction and with conservation efforts that have had unintended consequences. The partula snails of the Pacific islands are one of her examples. She found the text accessible and fascinating, and though it’s aimed at older children, she thought it worked well read aloud.

Carrie Gelson, a teacher who runs the classroom book blog There’s a Book for That, reached a similar verdict. Her roundup of Jenkins’s books describes Can We Save the Tiger? as introducing students to a huge variety of endangered and extinct animals, through stories that are heartbreaking but hopeful. The same page features two more Jenkins titles. One is Ape, also illustrated by Vicky White, with close-up portraits of the great apes that Gelson says prompt students to ask questions. The other is Fabulous Frogs, illustrated by Tim Hopgood, which she recommends for sharing in the primary classroom.

The pattern connects back to the video series. The Great Dying episode ends with a warning about planetary systems pushed past the point where they recover quickly. Jenkins’s conservation books are about the species closest to that line today, and about the people working to keep them from crossing it.

A World of Plants

Plants come first in the story of life on land, and Jenkins has a whole book on them. A World of Plants, illustrated by James Brown and published by Walker Studio, gives each double-page spread to one topic: photosynthesis, reproduction, seed dispersal, how trees are built, plants from tulips to cacti, the environmental effects of farming and the plant species now at risk.

The Strawberry Post called it a brilliant, informative resource and praised the striking color scheme that changes from page to page. Rosemary Kiladitis of Mom Read It described it as a nice addition to a beautiful nonfiction series and suggested it for readers aged 7 to 10, covering plant biology, habitats and conservation. It pairs well with “Onto Land,” the series episode about the first mosses and upright plants that turned bare rock into soil.

For the Dinosaur Fans

Many children find their way into natural history through dinosaurs, and Jenkins’s books meet them there too. Life: The First Four Billion Years follows the dinosaurs from their small beginnings in the Triassic to the Jurassic giants, the same arc the series’ eighth episode covers. Parents and teachers can browse Martin Jenkins’s titles in Amazon’s children’s dinosaur books category to find a starting point.

A child who starts with dinosaurs can go on to Lystrosaurus and the Permian, then to the reef corals that recovered from it, and then to a stamp-sized portrait of a red-crowned crane in Under Threat. It’s one continuous story.

The Living End of the Timeline

Coral reefs recovered from the end-Permian extinction, but it took about 14 million years, and the corals that came back were different from the ones that died. Today’s reefs, and the people and animals that depend on them, don’t have that long. NOAA’s scientists now expect bleaching almost every year.

Jenkins’s books sit at the living end of the timeline his history of life lays out. They introduce young readers to the butterflyfish, the tiger, the great apes and the frogs, and they explain what those animals need. The deep-time story shows how much the planet can lose and still eventually recover. The conservation books are about keeping those losses from happening now.

FAQs

Who is Martin Jenkins?

Martin Jenkins is a British children’s author with a background in conservation biology who spent about ten years working at the World Conservation Monitoring Centre in Cambridge. His books combine scientific information with accessible storytelling to introduce young readers to animals, plants, extinction, and conservation.

What is Creatures of the Coral Reef about?

Illustrated by Jason Cockcroft, Creatures of the Coral Reef introduces young readers to reef animals and explains how coral polyps support the surrounding ecosystem. The book also explores coral bleaching caused by rising ocean temperatures and includes information about climate change and actions readers can take.

What happened to coral reefs after the end-Permian extinction?

The end-Permian extinction, approximately 252 million years ago, wiped out earlier reef-building tabulate and rugose corals, and shallow-sea reef building largely disappeared for about 14 million years. When reefs returned during the Triassic, they were built by scleractinian corals, the group that includes modern reef-building corals.

Which Martin Jenkins books teach children about endangered animals?

Under Threat: An Album of Endangered Animals presents species information through illustrated, stamp-inspired spreads, while Can We Save the Tiger? explores extinct and threatened animals alongside conservation challenges. Other titles, including Ape and Fabulous Frogs, introduce children to particular animal groups and their characteristics.

Why is coral bleaching a concern for marine ecosystems?

Coral bleaching occurs when heat stress disrupts the relationship between corals and the microscopic algae that provide much of their food and color. Bleached corals can recover if conditions improve, but repeated bleaching events can leave them with insufficient time to recover and threaten the wider reef communities that depend on them.

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