Love, the Earth

Illustrated in a manner similar to Jack Ezra Keats The Snowy Day, the book shows all of the natural elements interacting with a little girl who looks a bit like Peter, and shows up in the pictures very clearly because she is wearing a yellow rain slicker. The mixed media illustrations have every color imaginable, and embrace the pell mell feel of 1960s illustrations with bold items and lots of movement. Many of the illustrations are contained within a circle, representing the Earth, which leaves plenty of white space. This really showcases the pictures nicely and makes the details really pop. The depiction of the face of the Earth in simple, penciled lines on top of these drawings is particularly effective.

If there is any hope for the environment, it's important to get children involved in caring about the fate of the planet. This story doesn't offer a lot of concrete examples, but encourages a general attitude of caring and good stewardship. Frequent readings of the short text will reinforce good habits, and quoting the book could be an effective reminder to maintain ecoconscious ways.

This rhyming picture book would make an excellent read aloud for Earth Day; the pages and fonts are somewhat bigger than normal, so a small audience would get a good look at the illustrations and words. Keep this in rotation with Lennon's Touch the Earth, McAnulty's Our Planet! There's No Place Like Earth, Jeffers' Here We Are, and Garcia and Osorio's We Are All Connected: Caring for Each Ohter and the Earth as a reminder to young readers that Earth Day should be every day.