Children's books

This is a posting from one of my graduate students - do you have any suggestions?

Books play an enormous role in influencing the ecological identity of people, starting with young children.  That is why it is imperative to choose books carefully.  There are fewer quality children’s books out there that depict nature than ever before.  I believe I live in a bit of a bubble as a Montessori teacher, so when I walk through the children’s section of a bookstore or when I read the findings of a study done on children’s books from 1938 to 2008, I am shocked at the results:  a staggering decrease in the representation of the natural world.

A study done by University of Nebraska-Lincoln sociologist J. Allen Williams, Jr., yielded some astonishing results.  He surveyed over 8,000 images in 296 volumes of the children’s books that are the winners of the prestigious Caldecott award by the American Library Association.  The books were published between 1938 and 2008.  They were divided into three categories: 

They noted whether each image depicted a natural environment (such as a forest), a built environment (such as a house), or a modified environment (such as a cornfield or manicured lawn). In addition, they observed whether the illustrations contained any animals, and if so, rated them as either domestic, wild or anthropomorphized (that is, taking on human qualities).

            The study showed that the depiction of natural environments steadily decreased around the 1970’s, each decade depicting less than the last. Even domesticated animals like cats and dogs were less prominent.  They also noted that not all of the books that children read are award winning, but among others the rate of natural content is staggeringly less.  They considered the fact that less children live in rural areas than when the medal was first given, but that even well into the 2000’s, when the migration to urban areas leveled off suggests there is a trend away from nature that is permeating our society in a frightening way.

            They posed the question:  is this decline a cause or a symptom of children’s decreasing involvement with nature?  This is the more sensitive and important question.  For those of us who purposely search out nature related books, there is no shortage, but the concern lies with the general public, who, for better or worse, may be prone to gravitate towards “whatever’s out there” at the time…and, right now, there are more books without nature than with nature.

Jacobs, T. (January 30, 2012). Children’s books increasingly ignore natural world.  

          Pacific Standard.

I have compiled a short list of children’s books that I keep on hand regularly in my classroom and also have on the shelf at home for my own son.  These are books that we have read dozens of times, and he never seems to lose interest.  And now that he is six and a half, he is able to read some of them, which brings a whole new challenge and interest for him.  I could have tripled or quadrupled this list, but I just chose my top 20 or so…must haves for any child!

Classics

1. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss (1971)
   • This book is the granddaddy of them all.  I do believe it is the book that has had the most influence in my life when I look at children’s literature. It is a heart-wrenching story told in a way that children can understand.  Greed, industry, consumerism, and the idea that nature is there for us to exploit for our own purposes are central themes.  The environment is ravaged in the name of progress, and in the end, when all is devastated, there is a seed of hope, passed on to a child, and the message that nothing will get better unless someone who cares a whole awful lot does something to help.  Makes me tear up every time.  It comes with the unique style of Dr. Seuss illustrations for which he is famous.
2. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein (1964)
   • The connection between the boy and the tree is unshakable…until the boy grows older and starts to have dreams and aspirations of his own. The selfless tree gives of himself, a little at first, and then more and more throughout the boy’s life until the boy is an old man and the tree is reduced to a stump.  It is then that they are together at last.  A true testament to the power of nature, and the comfort it brings.  Silverstein has a very distinct style of illustration.  I actually own this book in Hebrew.
3. The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats (1962)
   • I love this book for many reasons, and one is that it depicts a lower income family, but doesn’t make that the main focus; also the family is African-American, which is pretty amazing for the time period in which this was written.  It is the simple story of a child who goes outside and explores his snowy neighborhood.  He examines his tracks, decides he’s not quite old enough to join the big boys in their snowball fight, smacks a snow-covered tree and all of the snow falls on him.  This book depicts joy.  Joy from the simple act of interacting with nature.  The illustrations are collage, a fairly new medium to use at the time.
4. A Tree is Nice by Janice May Udry (1956)
   • Such a simple concept: why we love trees.  This book discusses all of the reasons why trees are nice, of which there are plenty of reasons.  It shows the different ways to enjoy trees, their leaves, climbing, resting in their shade, using them to cool your home, drawing in the sand with sticks, and so on and so forth.  I can only imagine how much fun she must have had researching and testing out ideas for the pages of this book.  The illustrations are simple yet full of detail, and the pages alternate color with black and white, which gives the book such depth.
5. The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss (1945)
   • A little boy plants a carrot seed and everyone in his life is skeptical that it will grow.  But he had faith that the seed would sprout, so everyday, he pulled weeds and sprinkled water on it, and believed in the life that is contained in a seed.  Finally, the carrot came up, “just as he knew it would.”  This book teaches about patience, nurturing, and the importance of believing in nature.  Crockett Johnson illustrates with her signature style and use of only a few colors in the entire book.
6. Eric Carle’s many books (1967-present), the majority of his books are focused on animals.  He is famous for his distinct style of painting papers and then cutting them out for collage that use rough cuts that somehow very intricately depict specific species.  His collection includes:
   • The Very Hungry Caterpillar (1969) This is the quintessential book for children on the life cycle of a butterfly. 
   • A series of split-page board books, such as My First Book of Motion, My First Book of Food, My First Book of Animal Homes, which are interactive in that the child looks at the animal on one half of the page, and flips through the other half to match that animal to how it moves, what it eats, or where it lives.
   • Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? (1967) and Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You See?  (1991) are page after page of animals and their characteristics told in a charming, creative, rhyming pattern.
7. Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson (1955) 
   • Another book illustrated by Crockett Johnson, but also written as well.  Harold goes out for a walk with his purple crayon, and draws his environment, starting with moonlight, but then going through a small forest, an ocean, mountains and back to the city.  He meets a porcupine and a moose along the way.  His dreams took him to different biomes, invoking a sense of wonder as to what these places might be like to the young reader.
8. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (1965)
   • A young boy imagines vines and trees growing in his room and lets himself travel to a far away land where there are wild monsters who dance around and have a wild rumpus with him in their wild forest.  The idea is that a faraway place in nature can be a sanctuary for a child having a bad day.  Maurice Sendak illustrates in his signature style.

Chapter Books for Children Learning to Read

1. Frog and Toad books by Arnold Lobel (1970-1979)
   • These two amphibians are friends and have many adventures together.  These are easy reader books that allow children who are still working on reading to be independent in reading and connect them with stories that take place in nature.
2. Dick and Jane books (stories first copyrighted in the 1930’s, but books popularized starting in 1965)
   • My son has spent hours and hours practicing how to read with these books.  The idea is to give the children repetition of words in two or three page “stories” of something that happens to two different families…one is the typical Caucasian family, one African-American of the 1960’s, complete with gender stereotyping.  However, it is a conversation starter on history and what’s more, almost everything happens outside.  They have beautiful, realistic illustrations of families playing outside, gardening, washing the car, climbing trees, exploring in ponds, visiting farms and playing with their dog and cat.  Wholesome family fun.

Chapter Books to Read to Children

1. Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White (1952)

•      E.B. White studied spiders and make the character of Charlotte true to the actual life cycle of a spider.  It brings a compassion for spiders that most people lack, and is one of the most touching stories of friendship ever written.  It also documents the young girl, Fern, and her relationship to animals, and allows children to enter a world where they might imagine the lives of these animals.

1. Trumpet of the Swan by E.B.White (1970)

•      Another classic from E.B. White, this is a story about an eleven year old boy, Sam Beaver, and describes in incredible detail, the time that he spent with his father in a secluded cabin in Canada, and his discovery of a pair of Trumpeter Swans.  White’s depiction of Sam’s connection with nature is deeply touching and makes the reader want to have those experiences themselves.

1. Winnie-The-Pooh by A.A. Milne (1926)

•      Wonderful, silly stories of Pooh and his friends, set in the hundred-acre wood.  Even the inside cover shows a drawing of a map of the setting, with areas like, “big stones and rox,” “floody place,” “six pine trees,” “bee tree,” and “nice place for piknicks.” 

Some of my Personal Favorites

1. Night Driving by John Coy (1996)

•      John Coy is a Minnesota author, and I first saw this book on a shelf in a classroom I where I worked about five years ago.  I started reading the book to the children without having read it previously, so I didn’t really know what I was getting into.  I was in tears by the end.  It is a story of a father and son who are driving to the mountains to camp.  They drive all night, and have the very special experiences that come with night time driving.  For example, they listen to a ball game on the radio, see animals at the side of the road, turn off their headlights and drive by the light of the moon, have meaningful talks about when the father was a boy and his relationship with his own father,  see constellations, eat in a diner truck stop, and arriving in the mountains just as the sun is rising.  The illustrations are in a very magical, misty black and white.

1. South by Patrick McDonnell (2008)

•      A little cat and bird have an autumn adventure.  There are almost no words in this story, the beautiful marker, print and watercolor illustrations.  A simple story about friendship and experiences in nature.

1. My Friends by Taro Gomi (1989)

•      Japanese author and illustrator, Taro Gomi, wrote this simple and creative book about a young girl who discovers how to jump, kick, climb, walk, march, explore the earth, watch the night sky, sing, and love from her friends the ants, the owls, the gorilla, the rooster and many more.  Beautiful watercolor illustrations that are surprisingly intricate at the same time as simple.

1. Red Fox by Hannah Giffard  (1991)

•      A female red fox sleeps all day and is still tired, so her mate goes out to find food for her.  He goes to all of the usual places, such as the pond, the farm, the grasses, then finally the city, and brings back a special meal.  When he returns, he understands why his partner was so tired!  She was about to deliver a litter of baby foxes!  Another book of beautiful watercolor illustrations.

1. The Apple Pie that Papa Baked by Lauren Thompson  (2007)

•      In the tradition of children’s books that provide repetition and rhythm, this book builds on itself with beautiful imagery. The rain is cool and fresh, the roots are deep and fine, the sun is fiery and bright, the clouds are heaped and round.  It describes all of the elements that went into growing the apples that went into the pie that papa baked.  Each page is filled with exceptional illustrations made up of only four colors that the illustrator drew separately on sheets of vellum laying on top of each other.

1. The Hedgehog Leaves Home by Ulf Stark and Ann-Catherine Sigrid Stahlberg (2011)

•      I bought this book at Ikea in the children’s section.  There aren’t many books there, it is mostly a furniture shop, but in classic European style, there it was, a children’s book about a hedgehog’s adventure finding himself in the woods.  It’s beautiful because in Sweden, there is also the Boreal forest that we have here in northern Minnesota, so even though it is contemporary Swedish in style, the setting is what a child would see here.  Gorgeous illustrations tell the story of these woodland animals in the forests of Scandinavia.

1. Follow the Line around the World by Laura Ljungkvist (2008)

•      Another Swedish author, Laura creates this trip around the world with a single line that loops and creates the shapes of deserts, oceans, Boreal forest, the Australian outback, New York City, and even into space.  She gives amazing little facts and figures about places, plants and animals along the way.  Typical Swedish style with clean lines and blocks of color.