Outside Your Window: A First Book of Nature

by Nicola Davies, Mark Hearld (Illustrator)

Overview

This gorgeously illustrated volume of poetry — sprinkled with facts and fun things to do — sows an early love for nature in all its beauty and wonder.

The buzz of bees in summertime. The tracks of a bird in the winter snow. This beautiful book captures all the sights and sounds of a child’s interactions with nature, from planting acorns or biting into crisp apples to studying tide pools or lying back and watching the birds overhead. No matter what’s outside their windows — city streets or country meadows — kids will be inspired to explore the world around them. Written by award-winning author Nicola Davies and illustrated by Mark Hearld, a breathtaking new talent in children’s books, Outside Your Window is a stunning reminder that the natural world is on our doorstep waiting to be discovered.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763655495
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	02/14/2012
Pages:	108
Product dimensions:	10.60(w) x 11.40(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Nicola Davies is a zoologist and an award-winning author whose many books for children include Surprising Sharks, illustrated by James Croft; Extreme Animals: The Toughest Creatures on Earth, illustrated by Neal Layton; and Gaia Warriors. Nicola Davies lives in Wales.

“To write Outside Your Window I cast off my grown-up self and found the me I was at five or six. Inside that younger self I could see the world as I saw it first — not just the sights and sounds of nature, but the feelings and the thoughts about it that ran through me, strong as the tide.” — Nicola Davies

Mark Hearld is a distinguished artist who makes prints, paintings, collages, textiles, and ceramics that are inspired by the natural world, especially by animals. He lives in England.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Divided into seasons, this visceral introduction to the wonders of nature explores cycles and the passage of time through rich, textural images and thoughtful poems... Debut talent Hearld layers his organic tableaux with matte, paper-cut collages, woodcuts, and other mixed-media techniques, complementing the album of ideas, images, and moods created by Davies’s evocative poetry.
—Publishers Weekly

Reading poetry may seem an activity for the winter-bound and introverted, but this lovely collection, organized by season, urges children to dash outside, slamming the screen door behind them. Unlike so much poetry geared toward children, not all the verse here rhymes, introducing readers to poetic language outside the predictable cadences of Dr. Seuss. Mixed-media illustrations, with an emphasis on woodblock and silhouette, offer plenty of beauty to contemplate.
—The New York Times

This is a beautiful book, thick and sturdy and elegant, printed on paper that seems to whisper under the fingers.
—Wall Street Journal

Editorial Reviews

Reading poetry may seem an activity for the winter-bound and introverted, but this lovely collection, organized by season, urges children to dash outside, slamming the screen door behind them. Unlike so much poetry geared toward children, not all the verse here rhymes, introducing readers to poetic language outside the predictable cadences of Dr. Seuss. Mixed-media illustrations, with an emphasis on woodblock and silhouette, offer plenty of beauty to contemplate.
—The New York Times

Divided into seasons, this visceral introduction to the wonders of nature explores cycles and the passage of time through rich, textural images and thoughtful poems... Debut talent Hearld layers his organic tableaux with matte, paper-cut collages, woodcuts, and other mixed-media techniques, complementing the album of ideas, images, and moods created by Davies’s evocative poetry.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Hearld's powerful multimedia illustrations layer paper-cut animals and diverse flora with vibrant swathes of watercolor, ink and crayon, creating dynamic scenes to which children can readily relate, while Davies' spare lyrics ground complex processes like the life cycles of frogs and dandelions and the formation of rainbows with relative clarity.
—Kirkus Reviews

Oversized matte pages with full-bleed illustrations in rich complex hues suggest classic twentieth-century treasuries, and indeed the mixed-media art (which includes paints, prints, and collage work) recalls the spirited and earthtone-touched work of the Provensens. The combination of designerly patterning and vigorous individual style is particularly strong in the critters, as in the intricate barring on the wings of the wide-eyed chickens or the rough multi-toned coat on the russet fox.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

A handsome, oversize collection of original poems paired with vibrant illustrations in mixed media ranging from watercolor to collage. Broken down into seasons, the selections encourage children to observe the world around them and appreciate nature in lyrical ways.
—School Library Journal

The book is not so much a book of poems about nature, though, as much as it is a book of nature written in verse, targeting young children and communicating with them quite effectively.
—Booklist

It’s a real treat to see such a lovingly, thoughtfully designed book, a big book with a real presence. (And you want to be sure to remove the jacket flap to see the cover, not to mention the retro endpapers.) This is one of those books you run your hand over and flip through and generally ooh and ahh about before you even read the first page and take in Hearld’s expansive spreads. It’s simply not to be missed.
—Kirkus Children's Books blog

This is a beautiful book, thick and sturdy and elegant, printed on paper that seems to whisper under the fingers.
—Wall Street Journal

The eye-catching illustrations and evocative language will have most kids reading a selection and then popping outside to check out the stars “making pinprick patterns in the night” or looking for worms that “seem too small to be important, but watch...the worms are recycling.”
—Parent:Wise Austin

Nicola Davies’ descriptive vignettes and Mark Hearld’s Caldecott Medal-worthy drawings brilliantly capture the astounding magic tricks that the world produces with reliable ease. Whether the scene outside your child’s window is that of rainbows and bucolic pastures of sheep or simply tomatoes being grown on the fire escape, this book celebrates it with an equal measure of awe.
—Planet Magazine

I can't think of a more beautiful way to honor [Mother Earth] than with this lovely book of poems.
—Huffington Post Parents

Hearld's eye-catching collages give this collection of poems about the seasons a handmade quality that will instantly make it a favorite.
—Instructor

From the Publisher

Lyrically textured and illustrated glimpses of the natural world. In this sweeping, comprehensive look outdoors, zoologist and noted children's author Davies (Poop: A Natural History of the Unmentionable, 2011, etc.) here joins forces with the illustrative talents of British artist Hearld, a kindred spirit when it comes to drawing artistic inspiration from nature. Following the progression of the seasons, these poems and their accompanying eye-popping spreads capture the essence of common animals, plants and phenomena in ways sure to entice young readers to venture outside. Hearld's powerful multimedia illustrations layer paper-cut animals and diverse flora with vibrant swathes of watercolor, ink and crayon, creating dynamic scenes to which children can readily relate, while Davies' spare lyrics ground complex processes like the life cycles of frogs and dandelions and the formation of rainbows with relative clarity. Some broader scenes encourage children to explore with all their senses and prove especially evocative, as in this moving image of what can happen during a snow-filled winter's night: "In the morning, you'll find the snow has kept a diary / of things that happened when you were asleep. / The animals and birds who ran about the garden / have left a snowy record of their feet." Over 50 poems, lustrous illustrations, a couple simple recipes and some advice for saving seeds combine to lend enough nature-related food for thought for many a sitting. (Picture book/poetry. 3-12)

Kirkus Reviews

…[a] lovely collection…Mixed-media illustrations, with an emphasis on woodblock and silhouette, offer plenty of beauty to contemplate.
—The New York Times Book Review

Pamela Paul