Review: Outside Your Window: A First Book of Nature

Davies, N. 2012. OUTSIDE YOUR WINDOW: A FIRST BOOK OF NATURE. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press. ISBN 9780763655495.

Davies, N. 2012. OUTSIDE YOUR WINDOW: A FIRST BOOK OF NATURE. Ill. by Mark Hearld.  Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press. ISBN 9780763655495.

This beautiful poetry book is ideal for incorporating into the natural science curriculum with readers who are Kindergarten-3rd grade age. The poems and illustrations in the book cycle through the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter. The large-format of this book makes the beautiful illustrations inviting; it measures at 10 1/ 4 x 11 5/16 inches. The illustrations are made from mixed media and really help the poems come alive!

Since the poems span the four seasons, they vary in mood and tone. The illustrations complement the text of the poems. In addition to the poems, there is also a couple recipes for readers to try. One is a yummy berry crumble, and the other features instructions on creating "Bird Cakes" or a mixture of bird seed to feed birds in one's yard or outdoor living space. There is also a section on how to save seeds and make compost! The recipes and information found in this poetry book could be used for a food science cooking project or study of birds.

Since the poems are all written by Davies, the poems' level of quality is consistent throughout the book. There seems to be a heavy hand on Spring poems. A poem which could be used in science instruction to simplify the explanation of the life cycle of a butterfly is "Caterpillars, Butterflies":

       What's eating the leaves,
        making them like lace and rags?

        Caterpillars!

        Caterpillars!

       It's all they do,

eat leaves and grow and grow....

And when they've finished growing,

they make a bag

that's called a chrysalis

and go to sleep inside it.

         Inside,

the caterpillar

changes to a butterfly.

If you don't believe it, look!

A chrysalis

is splitting open....

You can watch

the wings unfolding in the sunshine.

A butterfly.

(Davies, 40-41)

One way to introduce this poem would be to have children create a small, three-dimensional caterpillar and butterfly as a craft. Then the parent, teacher or librarian sharing the poem could use two puppets to read the poem- a caterpillar and a butterfly puppet. After the adult reads the poem aloud with the children, the children can use their caterpillars and butterflies to mimic the action of the insects as the whole group reads the poem aloud in unison. If the readers are young (Pre-Kindergarten through 2nd grade age), the adult could also write the poem on a large piece of butcher block paper and point to the words as he/she reads the poem aloud. It would also be helpful to give some background information on the caterpillars and butterflies prior to sharing this poem.

Outside your window book cover. JPEG. Retrieved from http://www.candlewick.com/cat.asp?browse=Title&mode=book&isbn=076365549X&pix=y