Earth & You - A Closer View: Nature's Features

J. Patrick Lewis Illustrated by Christopher Canyon

This is the first of three books celebrating the human relationship with

nature's features, nature's creatures, and nature's past and future.

A group of Japanese educators, publishers and businesspeople had a vision: to show children through poetry and art that everything in nature is connected, and that they too are connected with nature. They engaged a highly talented American author and illustrator, and this is the result. First published in Japanese, Earth & You introduces Earth's major features - the oceans, mountains, deserts and so on and links them to each other and to the human community. This book not only teaches, but testifies to the wonders of a connected world. It is the first of three books celebrating the human relation with nature's features, nature's creatures, and nature's past and future.

EYOU-P Paper $7.95 ISBN 1-58469-015-1

EYOU-H Cloth $16.95 ISBN 1-58469-016-X

Ages 4-10 36 pages fully illustrated 9" x 11"

Lewis, one of the reigning sovereigns of silly verse, turns from nonsense to good sense in this consciousness-raiser. Urging his readers to "Make the Earth your companion./Walk lightly on it,/as other creatures do," he embarks on a free-verse tour of terrestrial features and habitats, from a limpid lake to a bursting volcano, a teeming wetland to a busy classroom. His language is simple but high toned: "Let the Sea be horizon to hope,/let seashore be the landfall/you dream on." These meditations and observations are linked to create a sense of continuity, and printed over richly colored, luxuriously detailed landscapes filled with monumental landforms and expertly rendered wildlife. Children (and some adults too) will be moved by the lyrical sweep of these poems and pictures to a greater appreciation for nature's grand beauty. Consider this title, the first of a trio celebrating the community of living things, as a companion or alternative to such global-awareness enhancers as Barbara Brenner's The Earth Is Painted Green (Scholastic, 1994) or Michael Foreman's One World.

School Library Journal (April 2001) - John Peters

Connections are at the heart of Earth and You: A Closer View. J. Patrick Lewis' vivid imagery and gentle cadences bond the reader to each element of our world and underscore the unity in nature by moving rhythmically from Earth to sky, to sea, to land, and, ultimately, returning to our rolesnot just as observers, but as participants in the communities of towns and schools. Christopher Canyon's art echoes this flow of energy with vibrantly colored paintings that capture the delicacy of sea foam and the power of the wind under an eagle's wings. The overall sense of the immediacy of the natural world achieved by this synergy of word and art will open young readers readers' hearts to the lessons the Earth whispers.

Judy O'Malley - Editor of Book Links, American Library Association