"Your imagination smiles when you climb a tree."
"Every moment this beautiful planet showers you with gifts. Clouds contain fresh water to quench your thirst. Your lungs swell with oxygen that plants create. Earthworms, ground beetles, and ants plow the soil where your vegetables grow. Nature touches every bite you eat."
Every page in this book could be used for a science or writing lesson (the word choices and deeper meanings conveyed through deceptively simple sentences would make a wonderful study topic with an older group of students). There are so many ideas in the text quote above and that is just the text from the first four pages of this book. Think about the water cycle, life cycles, plant respiration, soil micro-organisms, bees, whales, bacteria, weather patterns, sunlight and shade, digestion, simbiotic relationships such as bacteria on our skin and so much more. It is not surprising that Elin Kelsey has a science PhD.
There are two videos and teachers notes on the publisher (Owl Kids) web page.
Publisher blurb: Drawing examples from the clouds and the cosmos, the seafloor and the surface of our skin, it explores how we are always surrounded and supported by nature. Whether it’s gravity holding us tight; our lungs breathing oxygen synthesised by plants; the countless microorganisms that build our immunity; or the whales whose waste fertilises the plankton that feed the fish we eat: nature touches every aspect of how we live. Using lyrical text grounded in current science alongside detailed diorama art, this informational picture book presents the idea that we thrive through connections to the land and sea and sky, and togetherness is key to nature. It encourages inquiry-based learning, inviting readers to wonder, ask questions, observe the natural world, and engage with big ideas.
In her author notes Elin Kelsey says:
"Too often, in our well-intentioned efforts to raise awareness of environmental problems, we leave kids with the idea that the Earth is wrecked and it is up to them to fix it. Environmental issues are real, and many of them are urgent, but all that gloom and doom simply leaves kids feeling worried and hopeless. And it ignores the extraordinary power and resilience of ecosystems all over the planet."
Soyeon Kim creates her work using dioramas - there is a whole art lesson in this too. This is the fourth book illustrated by Soyeon Kim that I have really enjoyed. If you live in Toronto you can see an exhibition of her work (June 2023).
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