Spotlight on Natural America

Spotlight on Natural America

I would love to meander through every state with T and his dad, taking in the natural treasures from the puffins in Maine to the glaciers in Alaska to the volcanoes in Hawaii (but skipping the Everglades – I'm afraid of crocodiles and alligators). Realistically, who knows when or how much we will visit. Before we go anywhere, though, let's whet our appetites with some reading material.

I have selected only three books to shine my spotlight on. I could probably find innumerable books showcasing the natural wonders of our country (T and I already reviewed Wild West Coast, for example). The magic in these three transports the reader from the Sequoias in California to frigid recess in Alaska to "hooves of ancient thunder" that pounded across the Great Plains. I find it timely to examine books that celebrate the natural glories of this country.

Ancient Thunder by Leo Yerxa brings the horses of the Great Plains to life. Yerxa's art, which gives the impression of painted leather shirts and dresses, leaps off the page as the horses leap alongside buffalo and antelope. The penultimate page shows a rider passing several tepees. The paintings and the poem from this artist of Ojibway ancestry give readers a feeling of flying freely on the back of one of those horses and an appreciation for the indigenous people who rode them. Pertinent to one's understanding of the book is Yerxa's introduction, in which he explains how his childhood idols were the native people of the Great Plains who rode horses in the movies he saw. Knowing an author's personal relationship to the subject matter makes a book more personal to me; I feel more connected to what I read than if I read a book with no context.

For most of the country, the thought of Recess at 20 Below chills us to the bone. As a SoCal kid, I never would have considered frozen eyelashes a regular recess occurrence. In Alaska, however, this is the winter norm. The first-person narrator and accompanying photographs allow children to experience the suiting up, sledding, and dark commutes almost first hand. The author, Cindy Lou Aillaud, is a teacher in Alaska and provides an authentic resource for readers to experience the largest and northernmost state. This book even includes a Q&A in the back, with questions sent in from children elsewhere in the country.

You Are Home by Evan Turk is exactly what I was hoping for when I began my search for books on natural America. My aim was to select several books that could foster a reader's appreciation for the beauty and variety of the country we claim as home. I guess I needed to look no further.

The refrain, "You are home," really drives home the message that this country, though varied in its geography, flora, and fauna, is truly home to us all. Children from many backgrounds will find themselves spoken to: "to the child whose family has just left its first footprints on new shores," "to the child whose ancestors lived on these lands before the stars and stripes took them as their own," "to the child in the city surrounded by windows, noise, and crowds," "to the child on the farm, surrounded by endless fields." All of us share a home in this country; no one person can claim it more than another. The pastel drawings depict national parks, from Sequoia to the Everglades to Hawai'i Volcanoes. If you are someone who does not normally read back matter, I urge you to read the author's note. Turk explains that although the national parks have been touted as places for all, they were created at the expense of the people already living on that land. Turk's endeavor with this book is "to speak not just to those who already love the parks, but to anyone who has felt that 'for all' didn't include them."

Even if we never make to half of the places in person, we've enjoyed a cozy armchair tour around the country.

Ancient Thunder
By Leo Yerxa
House of Anansi Press, February 1, 2012
T's favorite part:
"I like how calm it is."
(The first time I read it to T, I read it softly and slowly.)







Recess at 20 Below
By Cindy Lou Aillaud
West Margin Press, January 29, 2019
T's favorite part:
"How she wrote it, how the the teacher wrote it like a child would write it, so it sounded like a child wrote it."

You Are Home
By Evan Turk
Atheneum Books for Young Readers, June 4, 2019
T's favorite part:
"How it tells you what it means, when it doesn't have the names of the animals or people. That's the part where I like, where it has a lot of words...this."
"...home is a memory of footsteps and wingbeats, of sunrise and sunset..."

Note:
Review copies were provided by the publishers in exchange for honest reviews.