Children’s picture books celebrate outdoors
Finally, there are signs of spring. What better way to acknowledge it than a list of great children’s picture books that honor the outdoors.
Sarah Nelson calls her newest book, “A Park Connects Us,” a love letter to “all the parks I’ve known and loved.”
With bold, colorful illustrations by British Columbia- based Ellen Rooney, “A Park Connects Us” celebrates, in rhyming text, all the things we do in parks: Wherever we are…
However we are… a park holds us… and heals us and loves us and needs us.
Illustrations, in shades of green, show turtles and ducks being greeted by kids, people sharing food at a picnic, a park party where everyone is dancing, including the bearded man who uses a wheelchair. In an interesting graphic device, boldfaced verbs add to the book’s energy.
In the back of “A Park Connects Us,” Nelson discusses the history of park systems and the value of open space available to everyone.
Nelson’s “Frogness,” published last year, will make kids laugh before they even open the book because of the cover illustration by Eugenie Fernandes that shows three wide- mouthed frogs perched on a kid’s head, surrounded by more frogs of all sizes sitting on lily pads.
“My head is full of frogs,” says the young narrator, who looks for frogs with his dog, Chocolate. They look under bushes, fallen trees, in the marsh … but no frogs. But as the sun sets they hear “plop” many times and “all at once,/ from everywhere — / frogs come flying.”
Both books are published by owlkidsbooks.
“Marshmallow Clouds: Two Poets at Play Among Figures of Speech” by Ted Kooser and Connie Wanek, illustrated by Richard Jones ( Candlewick Press)
If you are going to introduce your child to poetry, you can’t get much better than Kooser and Wanek.
In this collaboration, which will appeal to older children and adults, the poets invite us to lie on our backs and let our imaginations float among the clouds.
Divided into the four elements — fire, water, air, earth — the poems range from objects, like a fireplace and a TV remote, to the seasons and the sky. One funny poem, “Why Pets Don’t Write,” begins “Parrots could, actually/ but they don’t believe that’s/ any of your business…”
This is a beautiful book with poems to be savored — sophisticated enough for adults and simple enough for kids.
Their poem titled “Spring” shows the poets’ Midwestern sensibility:
“A wake of black waves foamy with pebbles
follows the plow, rolls all the way up
to the fence, slaps into the grass and trickles
back, while farther out a spray of white gulls splashes down. Spring on the prairie. ”
Kooser is a former U. S. poet laureate and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his book of poems “Delights & Shadows.”
“A Warbler’s Journey” by Scott Weidensaul, paintings by Nancy Lane ( The Gryphon Press)
“A Warbler’s Journey” is a lyrical prose poem that’s a joy to read. It begins in the tropics of Central America, where a family tending a coffee farm watches a warbler who lives in the forest prepare to migrate:
“All day, the warbler’s excitement grew./ Finally, as the sun went down, she could/ no longer contain it, and she flew — not/ to her snug little roost in the forest,/ but up through the treetops, out into/ the darkening sky. She flew north.”
The little “lemon yellow” bird flies day and night, through thunderstorms and other challenges, until she arrives at the Gulf Coast of North America where an grandmother and her son are planting a garden from which the tired and hungry little bird eats and eats.
“Brandon Spots a Sign” by Sheletta Brundidge ( Beaver’s Pond Press)
Sheletta Brundidge made national news with her book “Daniel Finds His voice,” about her youngest child, who was nonverbal. He began to use words when he heard rapper Lil Nas
X’s hit country tune “Old Town Road.” Her first book, “Cameron Goes to School,” was based on her autistic daughter’s preparations for new adventure.
Now, Brundidge is touting “Let’s Go Brandon,” about what happened when her autistic second son saw his name on flags. It comes out this week, during Autism Awareness Month.
“We where in Houston in our RV, hanging out on spring break,” Brundidge recalls. “Brandon kept saying ‘ Mom, I think I wanna go swim. I’m feeling brave.’ This from a kid who is afraid to take a bath. Because of his autism he has really bad social anxiety. So I ask where he got this confidence from all of a sudden. He tells me he sees a lot of flags with his name on it. I had no idea what he’s talking about until he points out the Let’s Go Brandon flags flying everywhere.
“My sweet little 9- year- old autistic son thought all the flags were about people cheering him on and it gave him the confidence boost he needed to try new things, like swimming, riding his bike without the training wheels and eating s’mores.”
“A Kid’s Guide to Saving the Planet: It’s Not Hopeless and We’re Not Helpless” by Paul Douglas, illustrated by Chelen Ecija ( Beaming Books)
Meteorologist Douglas presents the daunting problems of climate change and offers realistic solutions and actions that kids can participate in now, from planting trees and vegetable gardens to buying less, going solar. and riding bikes. Interspersed with discussions of acid rain and other problems, Douglas offers vignettes of youngsters who are making a difference and climate careers they can pursue.
“You Have Feelings All the Time” and “I Love You All the Time” by Deborah Farmer Kris, illustrated by Jennifer Zivoin ( Free Spirit Publishing)
“I Love You All the Time” is the first book in the author’s All the Time series written to reassure children that they are loved and lovable no matter the ups and downs of the day. The book emphasizes the power of consistent love from caregivers to help children develop confidence, resilience, and emotional agility.
“You Have Feelings All the Time” is a reminder that emotions are a healthy, normal part of life; some feel good and others can feel uncomfortable, but that’s OK. Written from the perspective of a caring adult speaking to a child, the book also helps young children build an emotional vocabulary.