Jim Arnosky was the first writer of nature books for children that I fell in love with. Oh, I’ve gone on to enjoy others–Joanna Cole, Ruth Heller, Nic Bishop, Gail Gibbons, Anne Rockwell, Jerry Pallotta—but Mr. Arnosky was the first to catch my attention back in my elementary school librarian days. Such fine detailed pencil and pen and ink drawings! And then, in other books, beautiful, realistic paintings that look as if you could reach out and touch the animals depicted! Arnosky includes just enough information for primary age and even beginning middle school naturalists without overwhelming the newbie with too many textual details. The illustrations, however, are full of fascinating detail. If I want to introduce a certain animals or class of animals to my children, I’ll look for a book by Arnosky first (then one by Gail GIbbons, a topic for another day).
Arnosky has several series of books:
Crinkleroot’s Guides include Crinkleroot’s Guide to Knowing Animal Habitats, Crinkleroot’s Guide to Animal Tracking, Crinkleroot’s Guide to Walking in Wild Places, Crinkleroot’s Guide to Knowing the Trees, Crinkleroot’s Guide to Knowing the Birds, Crinkleroot’s Guide to Knowing Butterflies and Moths, and Crinkleroot’s Nature Almanac. Crinkleroot is a little dwarvish man with a long white beard who guides the reader through the wonders and experiences of various aspects of nature, particularly in the forest. Crinkleroot, the nature guide, first appeared in a 1988 title called I Was Born in a Tree and Raised by Bees, a title that I assume encapsulates Mr. Crinkleroot’s autobiography, even though I’ve never seen the book.
Then there are the All About books: All About Frogs, All About Lizards, All About Manatees, All About Alligators, All About Turtles, All About Sharks, etc. I count ten books in this series so far. The books are picture book length, 32 pages, and the text is appropriately preschool/primary level. The series is published by Scholastic and available in both hard cover and paperback although some of the books are out of print.
Another series is called Jim Arnosky’s Nature Notebooks, and it includes the books Shore Walker, Animal Tracker, and Bug Hunter. These are how-to books telling kids how to observe, sketch, and write about wildlife. Like a lot of other Arnosky books, these are as much about the artwork as they are about natural science. If you have a budding young naturalist with a gift for or interest in drawing what he sees, these are the books to encourage that bent. Actually, even “ungifted” children can benefit from keeping a nature journal and at least trying to sketch what they see.
Mr. Arnosky also has a series of “Video Visits,” VHS and DVD adventures in nature with Mr. Arnosky as the host.
Mr. Arnosky’s single titles are just as lovely and evocative as the series books. I especially like Crinkleroot’s 25 Mammals Every Child Should Know and Sketching Outdoors in All Seasons. The titles are self-explanatory.
In visiting Jim Arnosky’s website I found some wonderful resources. First of all you can buy Crinkleroot’s Nature Library on 2 CD’s, all of the Crinkleroot books for $95.00 plus coloring pages for 100 animals every child should know. But if you don’t have the money, you can get the boks at the library (probably) and print the coloring pages straight from the website for free. Wouldn’t the coloring pages make a lovely preschool nature curriculum? Color and read about one animal a day. Then, take a trip out into the wild or to the zoo to see how many of the animals you could see for yourself.
Mr. Arnosky also writes songs, sings and plays the guitar. I haven’t heard any of his songs, but the titles sound like fun: Manatee Morning, Rattlesnake Dance, and Big Jim and the White Legged Moose, for examples.
You can read more about Jim Arnosky, author, artist, and naturalist, in his book Whole Days Outdoors. Jim Arnosky has written and illustrated more than 90 books for children. He lives with his family on a farm in Vermont, and he’s celebrating his 64th birthday today (b.1946).
Author Fiesta: Jim Arnosky. Blogger Cay Gibson gives lots of links and ideas for a month-long celebration of Mr. Arnosky and his work.
Animal Tracks Unit Study.
Jim Arnosky’s WIldlife Journal website, in case you didn’t click on one of the links above.
Mr. Arnoskys new book, Man Gave names to all the Animals (from the song by Bob Dylan) is due out September 7, 2010. Has anyone seen a copy? It sounds like something we will all enjoy.
What a lovely book celebrating the art and the poetry of the humble medieval monks who gave us beautiful illuminated manuscripts of the Bible and other Christian texts and also scribbled little bits of phlosophy and poetry in the margins and on spare bits of parchment. Mr. Millen has taken these monkish poems and used them as inspiration for a story poem about a monk named Brother Theophane who “would stop with his copying chore to write all about the beauty outdoors” and who “tended his field, harvesting plants for the colors they yield.”
