NORTH

My library likes to profile seasonal-themed books on the top of their shelves, which made it easy for me to spot the lovely cover of NORTH: The Amazing Story of Artic Migration by Nick Dowson and illustrated by Patrick Benson (Candlewick Press, 2011). This book is beautiful and so much more than informative. It creates a mood, almost like seeing a beautiful sunset or a listening to a lovely ballad.

NORTH is a close look at the seasons in the arctic and the animals that make epic journeys to arrive for a few weeks of warmer weather. The prose is beautiful; I want to read it again and again:

“Each year in spring, many kinds of animals travel to the Arctic.

They come because they know there will be lots to eat and space to feed and

breed and roam in.

From across the world, millions risk everything to fly, walk, or swim here.

IT IS THE GREATEST JOURNEY ON EARTH!”

Dowson goes on to profile many of the epic journeys of specific species with more beautiful words. Benson’s watercolor illustrations add depth to the magic.

I am a firm believer that children need to be awed by the world around them, and especially by nature before we can ask them to save it. So I found myself steeling for the big BUT towards the end where we are told how we are ruining yet another special place on earth. I was so pleased that this did not happen. There is back matter that explains climate change and this knowledge is essential for us to understand. But not first, not until the wonderment is found.

This book creates wonder. It’s a brilliant, highly recommended experience about a place most of us will never go and a phenomenon hard for humans to fathom. I hope you’ll check it out.

From Earth’s Point of View

The next time your kids say they’re bored, show them a copy of Earth! My First 4.54 Billion Years by Stacy McAnulty and illustrated by David Litchfield (Henry Holt and Company, 2017) to give them a better sense of time. Earth is anything but boring. However, it spent millions of years feeling lonely in its early years. How do I know this? Earth is the narrator in this book, and we get a kid-friendly glimpse into evolution from Earth’s point-of-view.

Personally, I think this is an ambitious topic to tackle and McAnulty does a brilliant job of making it accessible to young readers. Adults may find fault with how it was simplified – for example, someone, namely bacteria, was around when oxygen appeared because oxygen was a byproduct of the bacteria’s life processes – but this really is minor and not what’s important in a children’s book. I only point it out because someone may.

The book is a nice mix of funny, engaging and simple, yet full of specific facts, something not at all easy to do in a picture book for a young audience. I love the illustrations and the personification of Earth, the moon and the other planets in our solar system.

The end of the book portrays humans and our good and bad effects on Earth in a sensitive manner that empowers readers rather than frustrates them into indifference. Again, a difficult feat to accomplish in a few pages.

I may never wrap my head around how long billions of years really are. I may have had a better chance if I had read this book when I was young. I highly recommend Earth! My First 4.54 Billion Years. It just might make your young reader forget all about being bored, and I’m pretty sure they’ll be awed at our amazing Earth.

 

Giving Thanks with The Thank You Dish

We love to teach children that it is important to give thanks or to be thankful for the good in their lives. I think giving thanks is crucial to creating kindness and happiness in the world. Trace Balla in The Thank You Dish (Kane Miller, 2017) does an excellent job of not only giving thanks, but of digging deeper into all the events that led up to the thing for which we are giving thanks.

The Thank You Dish is perfect for Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day when we share with those we love. However, I think this book is important anytime we let life’s harried pace overshadow simple joys. I think kids and adults will enjoy pondering the events that lead to our successes and joys in life whether it is our daily meals, a job we wanted, a new pet, or our homes and families. Taking the time to ponder these events can lead to a deeper understanding of gratitude.

It would be easy to make a game – for in the car, at the dinner table, before bed – of thinking up the chain of events that leads to and item or condition worthy of thanks. Who says character development can’t be fun?

If you’re interested in a lesson plan to use for K-3^rd grade, go here.

Dreaming with Robinson

For a lot of people a new year is full of possibilities, dreams and aspirations. So it was serendipitous that I stumbled upon Robinson by Peter Sís (Scholastic Press, 2017) at my library. Both this book and one’s aspirations are fueled by imagination.

Our imagination can provide fun play and inspire us, but as Peter knows (or discovers) when he’s faced with a gamut of negative emotions, imagination can protect us too. Based on the author’s own love of Robinson Crusoe as a child, this book is full of beautiful watercolors as vivid as dreams. Sís weaves a charming tale that takes us back and forth between reality and imagination and teaches us that it’s ok to play in both worlds.

From William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, is a quote, “We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep.” Robinson shows young readers and adults how much richer our lives are with a little imagination. I highly recommend starting the year with a cup of tea, a special small someone and a copy of Robinson. You won’t be sorry.