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Searching... Newberg Public Library | NATURE ASCH | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
This is a story about a friendship that one child has with the earth. They play together. They listen to each other. They nourish each other. But when the earth is sad, the child is sad--so he finds a way to make his friend, the earth, happy. "The vibrant use of pastel colors and simple, big details in close-up perfectly communicate the tender empathy children feel towards something loved."-- Children's Book Review
Author Notes
Frank Asch was born on August 6, 1946, in Somerville, NJ. In 1969 he graduated from Cooper Union in New York City with a Bachelor's of Fine Arts. Since then he has taught in both the United States and abroad. He has also organized art, writing, puppetry, and creative dramatics workshops for children all over the country.
In 1976 Mr. Asch and his wife started their own children's theatre called The Belly Buttons. In l989, Frank Asch and Vladimir Vagin published Here Comes the Cat!, the first Russian/American collaboration on a children's book, which has since received the Russian National Book Award. Mr. Asch also joined forces with naturalist and photographer Ted Levin for a series of poetry books for children. In 1996, their first book, Sawgrass Poems, was named to the John Burroughs List of Nature Books for Young Readers. Like a Windy Day was released in fall 2002. It was the fourth and last book in the "element" book series that already includes The Earth and I, Water, and The Sun Is My Favorite Star.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-A simple story in which a boy describes his interactions with his special ``friend,'' the Earth. (``I tell her what's on my mind. She listens to every word.'') Asch's paintings show the child in close harmony with nature as he rides the back of a tortoise, plants vegetables, sings with the birds, and dances in the wind. Pollution mars their play towards the end (``When she's sad, I'm sad''), but he cleans up the garbage, plants a new flower, and hugs a tree on the final page. Despite the rainbow tones woven into each illustration, the muted pictures are blandly drawn and have little personality. They are in keeping with the universality of the author's message, but make for a rather unexciting picture book. The basic ecological theme is delivered in a straightforward manner; the book could be used to introduce nature units and is well suited to beginning readers. Nancy Carlstrom's Northern Lullaby (Philomel, 1992), Doug Florian's Nature Walk (1989), and Charlotte Zolotow's Say It! (1980, both Greenwillow) address the subject with more charm and imagination, but The Earth and I will reach even younger audiences.-Steven Engelfried, West Lynn Library, OR (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
``The Earth and I are friends,'' begins this sentimental picture book in which a boy inventories the many ways he and the planet benefit and enjoy each other. Examples both obvious (``I help her to grow. She helps me to grow'' accompanies pictures of the boy tilling soil, then eating food) and inspired (``I dance for her. She dances for me'' is paired with the boy raking leaves, then the leaves being blown about by a gust of wind) give way to the book's ultimate ``green'' message: ``When she's sad, I'm sad'' captions a view of a scrap heap. The simple text is consistent with Asch's repertoire of very young picture books (Happy Birthday, Moon; Bear Shadow), but it lacks the humor that have made the others preschool classics. He paints a dreamscape of liquidy watercolors, with blues, purples, greens and reds bleeding together in a wash of rainbows that cover both the boy and the earth: hair, clothes, leaves, clouds are each multicolored. Jaded adults may have to stifle a laugh at the final, feel-good illustration, which features the narrator hugging a tree. Ages 3-7. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
An environmental primer celebrates the friendship between a boy and Earth. The two revel in their reciprocal relationship as they respectfully care for each other and help each other grow. Printed on recycled paper, the book contains bold watercolor, acrylic, and colored-pencil illustrations that aptly convey the poignancy of the simple message. Neither the art nor the text is overly didactic. From HORN BOOK 1994, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
In this bland consciousness-raiser, Asch (Hands Around Lincoln, p. 63, etc.) casts the relationship between a boy and nature as friendship. ``The Earth and I are friends. Sometimes we go for long walks together.'' Each drop of rain, each fingernail on the boy's hand, each brick of his house is rendered in a ripple of rainbow hues, giving Asch's simple shapes and usually spacious compositions a crowded, overworked look. The ``friendship'' is portrayed largely in figurative, generalized, or symbolic ways. To ``tell her what's on my mind,'' the lad stands on a tortoise whose shell markings suggest a world map; later, coming upon a littered, polluted stream (``When she's sad, I'm sad''), he carries the trash away (to where?) and plants a flower. In the last scene, he hugs a tree. Worthy insight perhaps, but so painfully earnest that readers are unlikely to feel more than a superficial, temporary response. (Fiction/Picture book. 4-6)
Booklist Review
Ages 4-6. A young boy celebrates his friend, the earth. Like other friends, they do things together: go for long walks, talk together, sing and dance, and, of course, play. The child helps the earth grow, and through its bounty it helps the boy grow. And when the earth is sad, encumbered by pollution, the child feels its pain. The relationship of the earth to its inhabitants has been done before, but this appealing story gets right to the heart of a child's experience with nature. Young readers will especially be drawn to the simply drawn shapes executed in rainbow-colored watercolor washes; the watercolors bleed into one another, making all sorts of gorgeous hues. A delightful package that can lead to discussion among the preschool set. ~--Ilene Cooper