Expedition Backyard: Exploring Nature from Country to City (A Graphic Novel)

by Rosemary Mosco, Binglin Hu

Overview

Join two best friends—a mole and vole—on their everyday expeditions to find beautiful plants, meet new animals, and learn more about the world all around them in this nonfiction graphic novel.

Each day, Mole and Vole venture out into the world – never forgetting their nature journal! – to see what they can find in their own backyard. From pigeons and jumping spiders to swamp milkweed and maple trees, these two explorers get to know every part of their local environment. But after an accidental move from the country to the city, Mole and Vole worry that everything will be different. As they explore, they discover plants to look at and animals to meet in their new home as well.

The story of these two best friends brings to life a nonfiction adventure of finding wonder in nature everywhere – no matter where you live. This book concludes with fun activities for kids to do at home.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593127346
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	06/21/2022
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	130,586
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	GN460L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Rosemary Mosco makes books that connect people with the natural world. She co-wrote The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide, a NYT Best Seller. She speaks at bird watching festivals and writes for Audubon and the PBS kids’ show Elinor Wonders Why. She tweets @rosemarymosco.


Binglin Hu is a cartoonist, illustrator, and designer. Their work pulls inspiration from wildlife, fashion, mythology, and their lived experiences as a queer second-generation Chinese-American immigrant. Binglin’s day job is graphic design at the National Aquarium. They tweet at @binglinhu.

Editorial Reviews

06/06/2022

Every day and sometimes at night, excitable Vole surprises neighbor Mole with a wake-up call: “TIME FOR ADVENTURE!!” Quieter, more risk-averse Mole gamely accompanies danger-seeking Vole, documenting their days in a sketchbook. When the pair inadvertently hitches a one-way ride to a city with nearby human residents, portrayed as Black, they make the best of the surprising transition, exploring the urban wilderness in bite-size adventures with dialogue by Mosco that smoothly integrates nature facts. Hu’s animal character designs are welcoming and friendly, while changing viewpoints—including cutaways of Mole’s underground home, images of sketchbook pages, and aerial views of the adventurers’ rambles—keep the pages interesting in this light comic centering a gentle animal fellowship, a human child’s move from city to country, and a view of the natural world’s variations. Back matter includes tips for drawing, journaling, and green living. Ages 4–8. (June)

Publishers Weekly

04/01/2022

K-Gr 3—Best friends Mole and Vole live in a forest and look for new sights every day for Mole to draw in their nature journal. They venture into the moving boxes of a nearby human family, who are Black, and accidentally move with them to a large city. The change of setting surprises the pair, who quickly establish new homes and pair up to explore the urban environment, including streets, trees, and a community garden. They form an Adventurers Club of like-minded animals to observe flora and fauna, while avoiding predators such as hawks and owls. Hu's artwork conveys the fun, wonder, and fear the adventurers experience. Full spreads and pages of three to four panels each are easy to follow, whether wandering around a neighborhood or introducing a new friend. Activities in the back include guides for drawing, nature journals, community gardens, decorating windows to help birds, raising cats, and composting. VERDICT Readers will feel compelled to start their own journals, gardens, and hikes thanks to these outdoorsy animal friends.—Thomas Maluck

School Library Journal

2022-05-11
Two animal friends learn about the great outdoors in the city and country and form the Adventurers Club.

Mole and Vole are opposites. Mole is tentative, cautious, and artistic; Vole craves danger and adventures. But while the duo’s friendship will feel familiar to readers of Elephant and Piggie and Frog and Toad, it’s not as well developed as those others, the dialogue often feels forced, and the true facts shared about animals encountered can feel didactic. In five chapters, the two share adventures near their country homes, inside a human home on a rainy day, and in the city after Vole’s curiosity lands the two in a moving box. Large panels in each chapter allow those new to graphic novels to follow along, and a final double-page spread in most summarizes the adventure in Mole’s sketchings. In between, an overhead view with a colored dotted line and multiple sightings of the adventurers, whose numbers swell to five club members, shows their route and the many things they spy. In the background is the subplot of a Black family’s move to the city and the initial loneliness and first friendship of their little girl. While body language and facial expressions are clear for most of the anthropomorphized animals, young children may have trouble with Vole; her heavy-lined eyebrows frequently make her look angry when she is meant to feel determined or excited.

Rather tame animal adventures for new graphic-novel readers. (how-to’s: draw Mole and Vole, keep a nature journal, join a community garden, stop birds from hitting windows, be a good cat owner, compost at home; about the creators) (Graphic fiction. 5-9)

Kirkus Reviews