Customer Reviews

Someone Walks By: The Wonders of Winter Wildlife

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"Someone Walks By" is one of those books that was so good I had to give it away (to prospective parents) as soon as I'd read it. What's rare is Ms. Carlson-Voiles' combination of very concentrated natural history lessons with utterly lovely illustrations. The language is distilled to such clarity that I paused several times to marvel at the way it speaks to both adult and child consciousness. I also wondered how she knows all this, as some of the animal lore seems so subtle. Now I am wishing for a companion book about subtropical forests!

A must for every family library,
SOMEONE WALKS BY: THE WONDERS OF WINTER WILDLIFE by Polly Carlson-Voiles
is a glimpse inside the north woods in deep winter, a glimpse inside the lives
of the animals who live there, both above and below the ground.

With an expert precision of mosaic cut paper techniques, a keen sense of the
natural world and a gentle voice, Carlson-Voiles captures the lives and expression
of over twenty inhabitants of these woods, their means of survival, and their ability
to love.

This book is a fantastic gift for children, who will carry it with them throughout
their adult lives as will art lovers and lovers of the earth and her wildlife,
a treasure for any family library.

The forest is alive and in and around and on top of the snow creatures are walking by. The rabbit hops through the deep snow, the otter makes his way carefully across the icy stream, and the red squirrel keeps a careful watch to see who will amble by next. There are many creatures hiding in the forest and no one could be certain of who would be walking by soon. Would the mother bear snuggling together asleep with her cubs in their den be next? Other snuggly creatures are in the forest too!

"Secure deep within the rock,
in a thin and perfect cave,
little brown bat and friends
snuggle and shiver together
in their winter sleep."

Polly Carlson-Voiles, a very talented collagist, brings winter forest life to life in this book. A little splash of watercolor to the collage is a marvelous touch to the art work. The storyline is very poetic and soothing. There is a large array of animals for children to look at and learn about and there is an "amazing fact" page in the back talking about animals who share a winter habitat and how they survive and thrive. Do I hear a raven squawking at us? "Kruk, Tok! Someone's coming. Take care!"

This is an amazing book about how animals survive in winter. Tracks
of some mystery animal cross the winter worlds of many different species
of animals, revealing how they live in winter. The last page is full
of amazing factoids that make you want to know more. My
kindergarten age son was way into the animals and the tracks. it
triggered all these things he wanted to tell me about what he knew
about those animals and others. The artwork is amazing! It's like a
movie that you want to go see a bunch of times because it's packed
with so much you can't take it all in. What a rich and full winter
world! The art composition and style gives the feeling of a very
peaceful and quiet setting with a slight sense of a busy-ness in
nature that you don't really think is happening on a still winter day.
It makes you realize that winter is more than you think it is.
What a beautifully written and illustrated story.