Books to Inspire the Outdoor Kid

By Margriet Ruurs

Looking for books that will inspire children to learn more about science?
Here are some great titles that focus on the natural environment.

Water’s Children by Angéle Delaunois
Water's Children has as subtitle ‘Celebrating the resource that unites us all’. The poetic text takes the reader from rainy cities to thirsty deserts, from mountain tops to the ocean shore, and from rice paddies to rain forests. All around the world, children share what water means to them. A lovely way to discuss countries, cultures, and the importance of water.

Water's Children, by Angéle Delaunois, Pajama Press, ISBN 978-1-77278-015-4.


Watch Me Grow and Up We Grow, by Deborah Hodge

Any school that wants to have a garden or nurture children to take an interest in nature should have these two nonfiction picture books. The first title focuses on growing food in the city. From beets and tomatoes in back yards to balconies, and from bees on rooftops to urban chickens, the book shares photos of kids growing things.

The second title takes the reader along on a year on a small farm. Both books offer ideas for growing your own food, including recipes.

Watch Me Grow, Deborah Hodge, Kids Can Press, ISBN 978-1-55453-618-4
Up We Grow, Deborah Hodge, ISBN 978-1-55453-561-3, 


Safari by Robert Bateman
This gorgeous picture book shares the art of Robert Bateman with young readers. Each image is an impressive, realistic painting of an African animal. Part diary, part note book, the text and images take the reader along on a safari to meet such animals as lion, zebra, elephant, wildebeest, and more. It even includes rough drafts of the paintings so that this book will appeal to young artists as well as nature lovers. Text boxes give detailed information on each animal.

Safari, Robert Bateman, Little, Brown, ISBN 978-0670879700.


Wild Ideas, Let Nature Inspire Your Thinking by Elin Kelsey, illustrated by Soyeon Kim.

A nonfiction picture book needs more than interesting facts. It needs a strong voice and an angle that makes it different from other books. Wild Ideas does just that. The environmentalist author looks at animals around the world, and how they solve problems: otters and primates make tools, squirrels copy people, and an octopus can play tricks. How do animals deal with problems and how can you do the same? A fun book to discuss in science and environmental studies. The art adds a whole other level and will inspire many art lessons. For more about the book, check out: www.owlkidsbooks.com/wildideas

Wild Ideas, by Elin Kelsey, Owl Books, ISBN 978-1-77147-062-9

Books! Books! Books! - An Addendum

By Claire Eamer

Claire Eamer photo

The online publication, Hakai Magazine, has published an article listing, with short reviews, Eleven New Coastal-Themed Books for Kids. Several of the books are by friends of Sci/Why, whose earlier books are part of our own Science-Themed Books for Children. (And several of these coastal-themed books will doubtless appear in our list after the next revision!)

To quote the article's author, Sheryl McFarlane, who is a children's author herself, "Books reviewed here range in topic from a First Nation salmon ceremony to the voyage of the Mayflower, from a west coast nature alphabet to an east coast whale stranding." They're suitable for early or intermediate readers - and they're lovely!

Unlocking the Science Writer Within...

If I am to tell the truth, I would report that never in my wildest imagination did I dream I would become a science writer.

When I was in elementary school, science was my most dreaded subject. It was tedious and achingly boring. In my memory, our lessons were mainly composed of flipping through worn textbooks full of line drawings showing how the earth revolved around the sun, and how the moon revolved around the earth. (Or were they rotating?) I never could quite figure out how night and day and the four seasons resulted from all this spinning. Nor could I figure out how any of this related to me.

I’m glad to say that I eventually sorted it all out and have now developed a lasting appreciation for science, both in books and in my everyday life.

Where did my appreciation come from? I owe it all to the kids.

Here’s what happened. One day, long before I knew I’d be a writer, I became a teacher and spent more than a decade in a primary classroom. There’s no better place to get a firsthand view of the delight children experience from nature and the living world.

Kids know there’s nothing more wonderful than peering into the tall grass to see a tiny ant scurry by, or watch busy squirrels chase each other along the branches of a tree. They love to tell you which wild animal is the biggest, the strongest, the fastest or the most fierce. Kids see the magic in the garden as they plant a seed and watch it grow. They find joy in every detail of a changing season.

When I moved from teaching to writing, I never forgot my students. I made it my goal to write books that they would enjoy — books on nature, wild animals, gardens and growing — all for the youngest readers.

I didn’t really think of these as science books, nor did I think of myself as a science writer. I only knew that I was trying create books that reflected the world the way a young child sees it — books that captured an appreciation of the wonders of nature, and answered some of the questions that kids have about the earth and its living creatures.

These books weren’t much like the serious science books of my school years — so I wasn’t sure I qualified as a science writer.

But, as I look around in schools and bookstores today, I understand that I need to expand my idea of what science writing is. Gone are the stiff and formal books of yesteryear. Replacing them is an explosion of bright, colourful books, full of engaging information for modern kids. What an amazing transformation!

I’ve had to shift my thinking to entertain the possibility that what I write may indeed fall under the banner of science writing.

Me, a science writer. Who knew?

I’m thrilled to be included!

Deborah Hodge

Deborah Hodge is the author of Up We Grow! A Year in the Life of a Small Local Farm and 25 other books for children.

www.deborahhodge.com