Who is the World for? by Tom Pow illustrated by Robert Ingpen

Hardcover edition

Paperback edition

Before I begin to describe this book I need to tell you it was published in 2000 and so yes, it is out of print but it might be in a library - I do hope so.

"Who is the world for? the baby bear asks her mother as she snuggles into her furry tummy at the mouth of their winter cave."

The mother explains to her cub about the world with caves, spring rivers, sunlight, fish and forests.

Next up the lion cub asks his father - who is the world for? and so does the hippo, the baby whale, the arctic hare, the baby owl and so on.

"Why look around you, his mother replies. The world with all its high green trees for you to hoot from and with all its fence posts for you to perch on, all its mushrooms for you to swoop down on towards the tiniest rustling leaf- my dear, the world is a wood and, the world is for you!"

If you can find this book it would be a beautiful present for a new baby or even as a school graduation gift. The art by Robert Ingpen is exquisite. Robert Ingpen won the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen medal in 1986. Take a look here at more of his work. I wish I had the space and money to own every book illustrated by Robert Ingpen - his work is just so wonderful.

Tom Pow was born in Edinburgh in 1950. ...  Primarily a poet, he is the author of five ollections of poetry. Landscapes and Legacies, published in 2003, was shortlisted for the Scottish Book of the Year Award. He has also written radio plays, a travel book about Peru, In the Palace of Serpents (1992), and books for children, including Callum's Big Day (2000) and Who is the World For? (2000), illustrated by Robert Ingpen, which won the Scottish Arts Council Children's Book of the Year Award in 2001. 

Here is the full Kirkus review of What is the world for:

This Scottish poet’s first picture book is a glorious hymn to the resplendent beauty and bounty of mother earth. Youngsters of every species ask their parents “who is the world for?,” to which each parent replies that the world belongs to them, their offspring. “Why, look around you / sings her mother [a whale]. The world / with all its deep roomy seas for you / to voyage through, all its million-kinded fish / that will part for you, all its rich seaweed, / its watery lights, its sea sounds / that speak so clearly to you— / the world is for you!” Pow captures the multifaceted beauty of the earth through the various animals’ responses. Each species treasures something different about their corner of the world: bears revel in the abundant caves and endless forests; lions relish the heat of the plains; while hippos savor the inky mud ponds. Pow’s prose illuminates the consanguinity of the earth’s inhabitants as the terrain moves from the sun-soaked African plains to the starlit sky of a darkened city. When the young boy questions his father about the world, the father’s response encompasses all the previous animals and habitats, definitively declaring that the world belongs to everyone and everything. Ingpen’s full-page pencil and watercolor illustrations are spectacular in their detail and realism. Deft strokes capture the furry majesty of a full-grown mother bear in one picture while minuscule fish glinting in the far-off depths convey the vastness of the seas in another. Combined, the contemplative text and graceful artwork make a heartfelt testimony on behalf of mother earth and her many children.