In the explosion of children's books about the earth there's seems to be a balancing dicotomy. Some books testify to the wonder of the earth's beauty. Others poignantly remind us to contemplate the loss of the gifts the earth gives us.
One of the best ways to introduce the world to young children is to intrigue their natural sense of wonder. Shelly Rotner and Ken Kreisler lead children on an exciting photograhic journey in Nature Spy. The book features a buoyant young girl who natural curiousity leds her to diverse views of the blue-skied fall day. Photography zooms close to reveal the intricacy of "golden eyes of a frog". A wide-angled lens shows the glory of fall foliage. The vividness of photos and exhuberance of the guide, invite children to explore. Ages 3-6. (Macmillan, $14.95)
Lyricism is another way to tap into a child's innate wonderment. James Endicott's respectfully illustrates Harry Behn's poem, Trees. Glowing golden-red sunsets and monochromatic moon scapes highlight the intricate detailing of bark, leaves, and blossom. The book is a celebration of trees with simple words that are quiet as a lullaby and powerful as a sturdy trunk. Ages 3-6. (Henry Holt, $14.95)
Best know as an aviator, Charles Lindbergh wrote much about his love and concern for the earth . In View from the Air, his daughter, Reeve gives poetic voice to her father's passion. Her word images are accompanied with aeriel views of New England taken by Richard Brown during some of Lindbergh's last flights. Stunning vistas, silent snowscapes, sparkling blue tree-rimmed lakes are interspersed with hazy smoke filled skies that work as a powerful tribute to Lindbergh and the earth. Ages 5 and up (Viking, $15.00)
Parents may want to introduce the fragility of our endangered earth to young children to begin their sensitivity at an early age. I caution parents to use gentle words and books and avoid complicated or sad messages which are not developmentally appropriate and may cause fear. In My River by Shari Halpern the message is delivered in the perfect developmental context of a young child who is mastering concepts of sharing. A book of few words and rich painted collages, animals and vegetation, one by one, claim the river as their own. An occasional chorus reminds the reader that the calming turquise waters belong to all. Ages 2-5 (Macmillan, $13.95)
Young children understand best a world that relates to themselves. In Dick Gackenbach's Mighty Tree, he turns his attention to early ecological education, steeping his story in a frame of reference that can be understood by young children. He tells of three trees that grow from seeds and then considers their fates. One tree becomes "paper to draw on, candy wrappers and paper hats." Another becomes a Christmas tree, "filling the heats of millions of people with kindness and cheer." He judges the last tree to be most important. He offers a long list of all it shelters and ends with a circular image as it releases "its tiny seeds." Playful illustrations are filled with bright colors, festive settings, and excited, involved kids. Judgement is missing and Gackenbach, always respectful of children, leaves room for them to make their own determinations. Ages 3-7. (HBJ, $13.95)
One of the first concepts young children learn is recycling. Young children will enjoy watching the recycling adventure of Phyllis Root's The Old Red Rocking Chair. The discarded chair is claimed by a chain of characters, transformed by each of them by use of their various gifts, until it finally makes it way back home to its original owner. John Sanford's illustrations are full of action, humor and invite participation of children who witness the changes. Ages 4-8. (Arcade Publishing, $14.95)
Another recycling story is told in Colin Thompson's The Paper Bag Prince. The book features an elderly protagonist who reclaims a tumble-down railroad car, junked in a toxic dump. He nurtures animals, treasures discarded items, and relishes the way the land heals itself when humans decide to let it alone. The story holds interesting angles. It reveals the aliveness of waste, the real riches of a man who appears raggedy, but is a recycler in the truest sense of the word. The illustrations are an amazing tangle of flowering weeds that grow through a maze of mess. Boarders and junk piles will will thrill detail-loving children and these multitude of images speak as loudly as the story. Ages 5-10. (Knopf, $15.00)
For older picture book readers, I recommend emotionally provocative books that open up paths for communication. Nancy Luenn wraps poetry and prose around the plot of her newest book, Song for the Ancient Forest. Using the Indian image of Raven as a wise-trickster, Luenn depicts him as mythic messenger. Raven, troubled by a dream of desolation, carries forth the powerful song of the earth, searching across time for to a listener who understands. Full- page paintings by Jill Kastner run a range of strongly emotional depictions of the text. The majesty of the Northwest's ancient forests, the somber desolation of land stripped by logging, and the bright transcendence of spirit are all successfully rendered by fitting colors and brush-strokes. Ages 6 and up. (Atheneum, $14.95)
Judy Allen's Whale combines realism and mysticism with human concern. Anya, traveling with her parents in a small motor boat, spies a struggling humpback whale and calf. Swimming to escape an oil spill, they seem to be doomed by exhaustion. Illustrator Tudor Humphries actuates the poignant feelings of powerlessness with blue tones and a mother-daughter embrace that perfectly captures the desire to comfort when reassurance is impossible. The story takes an unexpected turn as herds of all types of singing whales appear to bouy the suffering humpbacks. The switch from impassioned reality to another emotionally-heightened tone of mysterious salvation is again aided by the pain and magic reflected in the blue-toned watercolors. Ages 6-10. (Candlewick Press, $14.95)
What amazing changes Earth Day has brought in the two years of its existence. Has ever history seen one day that brought forth so many issues, so many opportunities to grow, and so many new programs in both schools and communities. One of my favorite changes is the way my children have been educating and re-training me, how this education has filtered down into the marrow of our family's organizational systems, how we all find pride in helping our earth. I have seen a wonderful by-product of all this. In a world that often seems too big for even adults to cope with, Earth Day brought our children a way to feel empowered! Another by-product has been the dramatic increase of children's books on the subject for all ages. I especially love books that weave the theme through stories and suddenly there is a whole genre of fiction for children celebrating the Earth.
Many are the children's books that celebrate the earth and its creatures. One of the first ways children come to appreciate their world is with the songs of Raffi. Now, Crown books have given some of these earth celebrations pictorial . One Light, One Sun; Everything Grows and Baby Beluga have been illustrated by artists such as Bruce McMillan and Ashley Wolff. Ages 0-5.
There are many, many authors-illustrators who praise the earth and its creatures. Some of my favorites are Byrd Baylor whose work is often accompanied by the work of Peter Parnall (Scribners), Diane Siebert (HarperCollins), JoAnne Ryder (Macmillan).
To view wonders of the world around, one might expose a child to the work of natural history illustrator April Wilson's LOOK! The Ultimate Spot the Difference Book. In lavish detailed style, Wilson shows twelve habitats in a pairing with subtle differences that will enchant a detail-loving child. Ages 4-9. (Dial, 1990)
Mother Earth by Nancy Luenn is a lyrical extended personificaton of Earth. Though the words are few and simple, the images are vividly and properly chosen. Luenn describes the ground as skin, mountains as bones, trees and plants as living hair, listening stones as ears, on and on until people are portrayed ed as her eyes and children. With a balance that is in perfect alignment with her images, Luenn ends by telling how we can give gifts to reciprocate. Though the message is clear, the gentle expression does not feel didactic. Watercolor illustrations by Neil Waldman are soft and echo the elements that Luenn describes. Ages 4-9. (Atheneum, 1992)
John Burningham's Hey Get Off Our Train is a deceptive picture book. It begins with a little train-loving boy who drifts to being a conductor in his dreams. The passengers are all endangered species who beg for his help for their preservation. In a stunning full-page spread, the author-illustrator heads the train back from the dream realm to a waking world where a mother wonders about the seals in the bathtub and the polar bear by the fridge. Ages 4-8. (Crown, 1990)
Gwenda & the Animals tells of a young girl who loves animals and can not abide the way her Uncle Matt teases them on a visit to the zoo. In Tessa Dahl's short chapter-picture book, Gwenda stays after closing and finds that the animals talk and communicate their problems. Bill, the head keeper, is understanding and sympathetic and aids Gwenda in her quest to ease their plight. The very satisfying end shows Uncle Matt behind zoo bars for his teasing behavior. Ages 5-9. (Viking, 1990)
Picture books give dramatic representation to how very quickly the earth is changing. Jeannie Baker's Window does this even without words. In thirteen full-page views from a window, we see a baby grow to toddling boy until he is married and has a child of his own. The view from his window changes from wilderness to condo-filled hills and chain restaurants. The young man moves to wilderness only to find that the destruction of the wilds follow closely. Ms. Baker's three dimensional collages are shocking and poignant. Ages 3-adult. (Greenwillow, 1991) Those who become enamored with Ms. Baker's artful representation of this stance will also admire her Where the Forest Meets the Sea which presents a like theme, again with amazing art. (Greenwillow, 1987 )
Ruth Brown's The World That Jack Built begins with a impressionist views of what first appears to be a familiar rhyme. Through the viewpoint of a cat, we view the idyllic meadows, rivers and forests surrounding the house. Until suddenly...we see that the cat has ventured beyond the beauty into another time where burned out woods and polluted streams mark the land boardering the factory that Jack built. The shocking story turn is a dramatic view of the fragility of nature's balance. Ages 3-8. (Dutton, 1991)
Chris Van Allsburg's Just A Dream depicts the life of Walter, a boy who might have grown up to be like the Jack described above had he not dreamed a powerful dream. Walter litters and ridicules his neighbor who wishes for a tree for her birthday...until his bed takes him traveling to the future where his neighborhood has been changed by cut-down trees, smoke-belching factories and the world consists of polluted waters and abundant freeway tangles. Walter awakes a changed boy and is rewarded with a more pleasant glimpse of the future. Ages 4-8. (Houghton Mifflin, 1990)
Dyan Sheldon reveals the whale's plight through the eyes of young Lilly and her grandmother who remembers The Whales' Song. Lilly's uncle accuses the grandmother of taling rubbish and he becomes a spokesperson for all the untrue tales told through the years. The truth and the magic persists however and Lilly is finally able to hear the glorious cries. The telling is gentle as the ocean giants and dreamy as their song. Paintings by Gary Blythe are poignant and emotive and stretch the age levels of the story. Ages 4-8. (Dial, 1991)
Destruction of habitat threatens in Lynn Cherry's The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest. When a man enters to cut down a giant Kapok tree he is lulled to sleep by the heat and hum of the forest. As if in a dream he is visited by creatures large and small who educate him about what is at risk by the damage he intends. Sense of community, interdependency, oxygenation, and harmony are some of the balances that are made precarious by his intention. Finally a Yansmamo Indian child asks the man to wake and see the forest with new eyes. The man does so, sees the beauty and leaves the forest, dropping his ax on the way. Lynne Cherry's love of the natural world has never been so evident in her illustrations. The lush heritage of this habitat is so sensual in the rich colors and detailing she chooses, child and adult will be moved by this book. Ages 3-8. (HBJ, 1990)
Art and science combine in Debra Frasier's On the Day You Were Born. In a strong graphic style that has won this first book an American Institute of Graphic Arts award, Ms. Frasier celebrates the miracle of life, in terms of individual birth, the marvels of our natural world and the joy of the human family. Ages 4 and up. (HBJ, 1991)
Gary Paulsen is probably the hottest young-adult writer around. I've yet to meet a child who did not love his Hatchet, the story of an adolescent boy who survives alone in the wilds of Minnesota with only a hatchet. As a writer and a reader, I am astounded by not only by how prolificly he writes, but that he maintains his level or literary and contextual excellence. It seems to me that in each book he takes on a writer's issue and triumphs to my continual satisfaction. Woodsong is a different Paulsen book. It is autobiographical and yet is so much more than an autobiography. Rather than a time-lined view of Paulsen's life, he allows us to see his inner workings, his the development of integrity with and respect for animals and his wonderment around him. Much of the mystery he learns is from nature and the natural world that surrounds him. Whether it is running with his dogs in the Minnesota wilderness or racing the Iditarod. Never have I read a book that dignifies the profundity of the world that surrounds us, the world that we so seldom allow inside ourselves. Ages 8 to adult. (Bradbury, 1990)
Never was there a more interesting perspective on ecology than in the young adult novel, My Sister Sif, by Austrialian novelist Ruth Park. The story tells of fourteen year-old Erika who has recently lost her father to drink and is living unhappily with two older sisters in Sydney. She is very protective of her sister Sif and there are some odd clues scattered about the family history that made me puzzle. I was, however, so consumed with the unveiling of the plot that it wasn't until Ruth Park began to peel back layer upon layer of story, I discovered that Erika's mother is the Queen of the Merpeople. The Merpeople,who live off the coast of the paradise-like island of Rongo, are threatened by an ugly, ever-widening gash caused by human carelessness. It is not until the last chapter that I learned that the whole story was told in the distant past of 2000 AD. Buoyed along by menehunes, sympatico dolphins, nurturing whales, fantastical underwater breathing apparatus, love stories, well-rounded characters and great writing, I followed the book to its tragic conclusion and the ray of hope in the epilogue. Ages 11- adult. (Viking, 1991)