Due to some early morning workmen here, Todd Mason will collect the links. Next Friday, I will be in Stratford Ontario giving Phil his annual Shakespeare fix so he will again man the station.
However let me draw your attention to a book from 2012 that I have given to several newborns for their future enjoyment. Here's a better synopsis than I could provide.
Step Gently Out, by Helen Frost and Rick Lieder
From Booklist
*Starred Review* Nature’s miracles are often small and hard to capture, but in a syncopated harmony of text and image, Frost and Lieder manage to depict tiny moments as seen through a bug’s-eye-view of the world. The quiet poem begins with an invitation to “Step gently out” and, from there, to observe a blade of grass. This may seem a dull activity, but it turns out to be full of wonder: a cricket leaps and sings; a spider spins a silken web; a firefly flashes through the evening air. The soothing, meditative language bursts with beautiful imagery that begs to be read aloud—“The / creatures / shine with / stardust. / Then they’re / splashed / with / morning / dew”—and the photographs, taken at close range, magnify wings in flight and dewdrops on webs. Praying mantises and moths may not be known for their loveliness, but in the collaborators’ capable hands, they are beautiful. Moving from day to night, the poem makes for a soothing bedtime lullaby that includes a reminder to children about the book’s small creatures: “In song and dance / and stillness, / they share the world / with you.” Preschool-Grade 1. --Ann KelleyAlthough the prose is amazing, the photos are even more so. Done in Rick Lieder's backyard. His newest one is on fireflies. Simply gorgeous.
4 comments:
Love that cover and title--and the concept.
Barbara having a grand daughter living in a fairly harsh, asphalt, brown, burned out lawn, trashy, dirty environment [we are NOT happy about this, but they live in the world they made] makes me wonder to what extent the appreciation of this book depends on some breath of beauty and nature in the child's surroundings. To them, ants are the awful things they kill with Raid when they invade the kitchen.
Indeed, great cover. I like such pieces. The little critters deserve their due
What an interesting idea for a book! And I'll bet the 'photos are incredible. Thanks for sharing, Patti.
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