Appreciate animals with fun new tales
Animals need lots of appreciation; kids are the future stewards of the environment and its living things, so it’s up to them to care. These new books are wondrous and appealing.
“All the Animals Where I Live” by Philip C. Stead; Neal Porter/Roaring Brook Press; 44 pages; $18.99.
A meditation on the creatures that shape our lives, this lovely, sweet picture book explains author Philip C. Stead’s love of animals, which he got from his grandmother because of a teddy bear, a quilt with chickens and the gentle way she spoke to animals. These days, Stead pays homage to his dog Wednesday, who sits by his bird feeder and watches the cranes, a hot toad and buzzing dragonflies in the summer. Wednesday watches as a turtle happily shuffles away after an eagle drops him, and he barks at a visiting coyote.
Stead’s calm book features simple pencil drawings, which evoke a subtle gorgeousness in nature and a dog’s anticipation of fall, when the deer come to eat apples and the chipmunks make their home in a hollow stump. Soon there’s nothing but snow, a white owl and the smell of maple syrup, just like Grandma’s, and Wednesday makes his way onto the quilt.
Simply a beautiful way to calm down and appreciate neighborhood animals, Caldecott Medal Winner Stead’s book is a rare gem. “If I Had a Horse” by Gianna Marino; Neal Porter/Roaring Brook Press; 32 pages; $17.99.
An ethereal appreciation of a child’s love for a horse and the understanding, boundaries and bravery that come with knowing a horse, Gianna Marino’s picture book is dreamy. Watercolor in purples and oranges, teals and reds, the flowing illustrations feature a grand horse and a genderless child, who tries hard to tame their imaginary friend but then resolves to explore new places “and run wild with new friends.”
The sophomore debut from Marino is empowering, with an appreciative lesson about respecting animals and taking on their bravery. The journey from shy child and horse to “together ... we could do anything” is full of possibilities.
“Paddle Perch Climb: Bird Feet are Neat” by Laurie Ellen Angus; Dawn Publications; 32 pages; $8.95.
Bird feet are really neat, as Laurie Ellen Angus proves with bold, lively paper-collage illustrations of cardinals perching to pick some berries, woodpeckers climbing to peck for grubs and owls grabbing mice to feed their owlets. The diverse, rounded, friendly birds hop, scratch and hitch their way across the pages, as young children learn about the many way birds make their living and find their food.
Author Angus was inspired to write this bird-appreciation book after spotting a brilliantly colored red-bellied woodpecker landing repeatedly on her bird feeder’s horizontal bar to get some grub.