Wonder Earth Exploring Our Living Home

Wonder Earth Exploring Our Living Home, written by Zanni Louise and Tiff Bollhorn and illustrated by Sophy Louise Smith (Five Mile) HB RRP $24.99 ISBN 978 1 922385529                                     

Reviewed by Karen Hendriks

This gentle book about our Earth takes a different approach to learning. It focuses on listening to and noticing Earth’s poetry – its vibrant, wondrous song that helps us understand that we are all interconnected.

 

Zanni Louise and Tiff Bollhorn have worked together to create a text that is easy and simple to read. The text is well supported by the illustrations and the information is not overwhelming but welcoming and intriguing. It invites a child to take the time to explore. The book can be opened and read wherever a child chooses. The simple and compound sentences are easy to read and absorb. Although not text heavy, the book provides lots of information. After the introduction, each spread starts with a question to orientate the child to the topic (sun, water, food, colour, patterns, lifecycles, stories, plants and animals, sight, feelings). These questions reinforce our interconnection to everything. The reader is also encouraged to make their own discoveries in their own environments. This book’s intention is to foster a deep love and understanding of our Earth, and it does.

 

The illustrator creates bright and lively illustrations that celebrate the beauty of nature and all the creatures within it. The illustrations have made this book a beautiful keepsake that gives information that strengthens and enriches the text. The children depicted reflect cultural diversity and gender. The colours used on each spread reflect the focus of the topic.  For example, lots of yellow is used for the sun page spread. The colour, patterning, and detail celebrate the visual rhythms of the natural world and highlight the interconnectedness of us all to nature and the built and natural environments. We are left to delightfully wonder about our earth.

 

Wonder Earth Exploring Our Living Home is a picture book that has an important message about what it means to belong to Mother Earth and to love and protect her. This lovely book is suitable for 4 years and older and is a wonderful addition to any child’s bookshelf. It could even be a delightful coffee table book that can be visited often.