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I Took a Walk by Henry Cole

Oct31

“I found a path that led to a meandering stream. I wonder who’s watching me?”

This book encourages children to sit quietly in nature and observe all the many plants and creatures that can be found. It would pair well with one of the books listed in Picture Book Preschool, Play With Me by Marie Hall Ets, in which a young girl gets the pond and woodland creatures to come to her by sitting still and making them unafraid. In I Took a Walk, the “I” of the title doesn’t try to tame or approach the creatures he sees, but he does manage to spy out many plants and animals in their habitats and name them for the reader to find in the pictures.

This would be a good book for children who enjoy the “Where’s Waldo” kind of seek and find books that so many find engaging. The advantage to this one is that it shows children how they can play this discovery game outdoors in nature. The narrator visits the woods, the meadow, and the pond, and in each place he finds a multitude of natural wonders to observe and enjoy. A fold-out page for each habitat produces a three page spread illustration with a list of all the plants and animals and nature objects to be found on the page.

I like the idea and the execution. The book could keep primary age children busy for a long time, finding the various things in each picture, some of which are well-camouflaged. And then the extension to the book is, of course, to go outside and see how many plants and creatures one can discover “in the wild.” Make a list. Talk about habitats and camouflage. Learn the names of the plants and insects and other things that you see. Play the “I Took a Walk” nature game together.

Excuse me, I think I’ll go for a walk.

Creekfinding: A True Story by Jacqueline Briggs Martin and Claudia McGehee

Oct18

Once there was a creek in northeast Iowa that got covered up by a cornfield. Then, a guy named Mike bought the land and anted to bring the creek back. But it took a lots of planning and work and rocks and dirt and plants and insects and birds and fish—and even some big earth-moving machines–to revive the creek and make a place for Brook Creek to flourish and nourish both people and wildlife.

“If you went to the creek with Mike, you’d see the water. But a creek isn’t just water. You’d see brook trout and sculpin. You’d hear the outdoor orchestra—herons, snipe, bluebirds, yellowthroat warblers; frogs returned home; and insects–thousands, and thousands, and thousands of insects.”

I’m not much of an outdoors girl. But I did find this true story of how Mike Osterholm, who is “passionate about the prairie, cold water streams, brook trout, and partnering with the earth,” decided to revive the creek that once flowed through his land and how he did it, a fascinating one. The implication in the book, never stated, is that a cornfield is of lesser value or “earth-friendliness” than a brook full of trout. I’m not so sure about that. But a brook was what Mike wanted, just as the farmer who owned the land before him wanted a cornfield, and I liked reading about how it all came about.

The illustrations by artist Claudia McGehee, are all “prairie greens, creek blues,” yellows and browns, nature colors. Etched out in scratchboard and then painted, the pictures are evocative of a wild natural world restored, and they do add to the text a certain earthy feeling that couldn’t be achieved by words alone. It’s a beautiful book, and for this indoor girl, it makes me actually want to find a creek or a brook or some sort of running water to sit beside and observe. That’s a sign of a well done nature picture book.

This book was recommended to me by Sandy Spencer Hall of Hall’s Living Library. It would be a good addition to a Charlotte Mason-style nature study read aloud time, best served next to flowing water—or perhaps in a cornfield?