Our home outside: Irresistible books for kids
For so many people, the world has shrunk to just their home — but their eyes remain on the world. Earth Day is around the corner, and it’s hard to escape thoughts of the fate of the planet, our place on it, and our love for our great round spaceship. A beautiful collection of new picture books offers tribute, warning, advice and appreciation for Planet Earth, combining colorful art and vibrant words for young readers.
One of the most entrancing books of the spring, Antoinette Portis’ “A New Green Day,” is filled with gentle riddles about a “new green day” from beginning to end. (Ages 3 to 7, Neal Porter Books, $18.99.) “I scribble on the walk in glistening ink. Read all about my nighttime travels,” the snail says. Sunlight, leaves, bugs, tadpoles and clouds offer up their riddles, and eventually yield to the night sky’s star-studded glow, all paying tribute, in words and art, to the everyday wonders of the world.
In “Peter and the Tree Children,” forest expert (and author) Peter Wohlleben takes a squirrel friend named Piet on a journey through the woods to find young trees growing in the protective embrace of their “families.” (Illustrated by Cale Atkinson, translated by Jane Billinghurst, ages 4 to 8, Greystone Kids, $17.95.) Along the way, they find seedlings stripped of a healthy environment, encounter logging (both responsible and not) and eventually find “freshly sprouted beech children” in an old grove. At the end, readers can dive into more in-depth information about trees, how they “talk,” and how they grow.
Cristiana Valentini’s “Stay, Little Seed,” irresistibly illustrated by Philip Giordano, takes a different approach to tree families, with a tender tale of a tree seeing its seeds drift away into the world. (Ages 3 to 8, Greystone Kids, $17.95.) “The seeds were small and silent, but one day they would be big trees of their own,” and they were ready to go — except for one. The art is delightfully groovy, and the story — of a seed, day after day, searching for the right moment to let go — explores a lovely metaphor for risk and growth, human and otherwise.
Readers looking for a more science-minded approach will appreciate two books that take an environmentally focused look at life. In “Plastic: Past, Present, and Future,” author Eun- ju Kim and illustrator Ji-won Lee (with an assist from translator Joungmin Lee Comfort) take a brightly colored look at plastic, starting with the story of bath toys set loose in the ocean. (Ages 6 to10, Scribble, $17.99.) Even-handed and informative, the book details the many helpful uses of plastic, its damage to the environment, and the latest work in cleaning up, recycling, and reformulating plastics. “This Raindrop: Has a Billion Stories to Tell,” by Linda Ragsdale, takes a more poetic look at the crucial resource. (Ages 5 to 8, Flowerpot Press, $16.99.) Fanciful illustrations by Srimalie Bassani depict a drop of water as “a master of mysteries,” dripping off pterodactyl wings, carving canyons, rolling through waves, and falling on rooftops. A poetic look at an essential resource and its eternal, ever-cycling nature, the book ends with a childfriendly primer on the water cycle and conservation.