Earth & You, A Closer View: Nature's Features (Sharing Nature With Children Book) [Paperback]

J. Patrick Lewis (Author), Christopher Canyon (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2001 | Series: Sharing Nature With Children Book

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.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 2-4-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 (Arcade, 1991; o.p.).-John Peters, New York Public Library

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

". . . vivid imagery and gentle cadences bond the reader to each element of our world and underscore the unity in nature . . ." -- Judy O'Malley - Editor of Book Links, American Library Association

"...beautiful illustrations and poems invite you to explore the larger community of life and celebrate the natural wonder..." -- Children's Digest, June 2001

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 36 pages
• Publisher: Dawn Publications (CA) (March 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584690151
• ISBN-13: 978-1584690153
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 9 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,136,219 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

After nearly three decades as a professor of economics, J. Patrick Lewis turned to poetry. He is the author of more than 75 children's books including A Hippopotamusn't (1990), BoshBlobberBosh (1998), Please Bury Me in the Library (2004), First Dog (2009), Spot the Plot (2009), and The House (2009).

He has recently been named the third U.S. Children's Poet Laureate (2011-2013) by the Poetry Foundation.

His books have been published by Creative Editions, Knopf, Atheneum, Dial, Harcourt, Little, Brown, National Geographic, Chronicle Books, Scholastic, Candlewick, Schwartz & Wade, Holiday House, Sleeping Bear Press, Wordsong/Boyds Mills Press, Dawn Publications, and others. Gulls Hold Up the Sky, his first book of adult poems, was published by Laughing Fire Press (2010).

Pat's children's poems have also appeared in CRICKET (26 times), SPIDER, LADYBUG, CICADA, ODYSSEY, RANGER RICK, HIGHLIGHTS FOR CHILDREN, Ms. Magazine, YOUR BIG BACKYARD, CREATIVE CLASSROOM, STORYTIME, STORYWORKS, CHICKADEE, AHOY, LANGUAGE ARTS, JOURNAL OF CHILDREN'S LITERATURE, BOOKBIRD, READING TODAY and over 100 anthologies. He wrote the 1992 National Children's Book Week poem, printed on one million bookmarks and distributed nationally.

Lewis has received numerous awards from the American Library Association, the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, and others. He was the recipient of the 2010-11 National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Excellence in Children's Poetry Award, presented every two years.

WHERE I'LL BE NEXT--Schools, Bookstores, Conferences

October 14-16, 2011 Poetry Foundation--TED Lecture Chicago, Illiniois
October 23-25, 2011 NY State Reading Assn. Rye Brook, New York
October 28-31, 2011 Keystone State Reading Assn. Lancaster, Pennsylvania
November 5, 2011 Buckeye Book Fair Wooster, Ohio
November 8, 2011 Ashland University Ashland, Ohio
November 15-16, 2011 St. Joseph's College Rensselaer, Indiana
November 17-20, 2011 NCTE Convention Chicago, Illinois
December 1, 2010 Hillview Elementary Newark, Ohio
December 8, 2011 West Chester University (Dan Darigan) West Chester, PA
January 18, 2012 Richard Avenue Elementary Grove City, Ohio
January 24, 2012 Fouse Elementary Westerville, Ohio
March 1-3, 2012 Charlotte Huck Ch. Lit. Conference Redlands, California
April 3-5, 2012 Holland Hall Primary Tulsa, Oklahoma
April 12, 2012 Washington-Centerville Public Library Centerville, Ohio
April 13, 2012 Stingley Elementary Centerville, Ohio
April 17-25, 2012 Anglo-American School Moscow, Russia
April 29-May 2, 2012 IRA Convention Chicago, Illinois
May 10, 2012 Wynford Elementary Bucyrus, Ohio
March 22, 2013 OCTELA Conference Columbus, Ohio