Hello friends!
I come to you today with an extra- super- bonus-sized Book Basket! It is officially take-a-book-outside season, and today’s selections are especially good for this purpose. Our theme this month is: Nature is Amazing. These are picture books you can fill a tote bag—or, I suppose, a basket—with and bring on a picnic, a beach day, or a trip to a mountain stream. Your local park or your own front yard works, too!
“An observant child should be put in the way of things worth observing.” -Charlotte Mason
We’ll start with the books of Janell Cannon. Stellaluna is probably her best-known title, but Verdi was my boys’ favorite when they were young. Each of Cannon’s books features a personified animal as the main character. Stellaluna is a fruit bat; Verdi is a python. Each of these characters is “growing up,” facing new challenges and exploring the world in new ways as they age. They stumble, struggle, and learn, just like human children do. Cannon’s beautiful, vivid illustrations are not to be missed:
Janell Cannon is also the author of Crickwing, about a cockroach, and Pinduli, about a hyena. All her books contain a few pages at the end containing information about the animals featured.
Next up we have the collected works of Dianna Hutts Aston and Sylvia Long. I would put these in the category of “whimsical nonfiction.” Strictly categorized, they are informational titles, but feast your eyes on these wonderful page spreads:
Each book in the series gives information about the featured items alongside gorgeous illustrations. Don’t settle for just one of these books! Here’s the list of these nature titles:
Lastly, I want to recommend the children’s stories of James Herriot. Yes, he of All Creatures Great and Small fame also wrote short stories for children. I grew up with two of these in picturebook format: Moses the Kitten and Only One Woof. But there are many more! They can be found either in stand-alone format or in this lovely collection:
These are ideal for bedtime if your kids can sit through a longer story. As I’m wrapping up this newsletter, I’m thinking I might check out a collection of Herriot’s for my own bedtime reading this summer.
A note on purchase links: I’m a happy supporter of independent bookshops, so the links I provide will almost always go to my affiliate link at bookshop.org. For my local readers, I heartily recommend you buy them through our favorite, Goldberry Books, but you might have a shop closer to you. Of course, you can always find these selections on That Big Website That Ships Quickly, But Not As Quickly as It Used To, and Remember How They Sucked Us All In By Being a Bookstore to Begin With? I’m also a big fan of saving money and patronizing your local library. Happy reading!
I had no idea Janell Cannon wrote other books! What a delight!! Thank you for recommending!
Second: This is more just a complaint - but Pinduli and Crickwing are only available as audiobooks from the Charlotte library. Now, my boys love a good audiobook - but these particular books are also meant to be READ WITH pictures. They’re for 4year olds. What is the world coming to? / end rant. ;)