Hello, Meadow!

by Terry Pierce, Nadja Sarell (Illustrator)

Overview

"We can help our meadows, too!"

Grassy, flower-filled meadows are really pretty! It’s oh-so tempting to hike and skip right through them. But meadows are actually fragile, and human footsteps and picnics can cause them harm—and then they cannot do their important work of providing habitat for creatures and plants, filtering water, and even storing carbon. The bouncy text and vibrant illustrations in this sturdy board book show little nature lovers how to easily protect meadows while enjoying one of Earth's loveliest features.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781951179250
Publisher:	Yosemite Conservancy
Publication date:	05/16/2023
Pages:	14
Product dimensions:	5.91(w) x 5.91(h) x 0.39(d)
Age Range:	2 - 4 Years

About the Author

Terry Pierce is the author of twenty-five children’s books, including Eat Up, Bear!, Mama Loves You So, Mother Earth’s Lullaby, and My Busy Green Garden. She holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts and teaches for UCLA Extension Writers’ Program. Terry is an outdoor enthusiast, enjoying backpacking, hiking, rock climbing, and, of course, bear sightings near her home in Mammoth Lakes, California.

Nadja Sarell has a degree in illustration from the North Wales School of Art and Design as well as an MA in dance from Theatre Academy Helsinki. She is the illustrator behind Eat Up, Bear! and The One and Only Wolfgang, written by Instagram sensation Steve Greig aka @wolfgang2242 and author Mary Rand Hess, and the Frankie Sparks, Third Grade Inventor series. She lives in Helsinki, Finland.

Read an Excerpt

"Meadows are such busy places. 

Grasses, creatures, open spaces. 

But meadows can get hurt, you see.

Let's do our part to let them be.

When hikers stay upon the trails...

Hello, Meadow! How are you? 

We can help our meadows, too!

When folks leave flowers on their own...

Hello Meadow! What a view!

We can help our meadows, too!

. . . 

Every grown-up, every child,

can help keep meadows strong and wild." 

Editorial Reviews

Kirkus Reviews, February 2023: "As in Eat Up, Bear! (2021), author and illustrator again team up to show small folks—and their parents—how to enjoy nature without harming it. . . . The simply drawn, brightly hued illustrations are graced with a multitude of accurately depicted plants and animals: red-shouldered hawk, Turk’s-cap lilies, lupine, blue flags, milkweed, monarch butterflies, red-winged blackbird, and much more. . . The last couplet underscores the point: 'Every grown-up, every child, / can help keep meadows strong and wild.'"

Midwest Book Review, February 2023: "Fun and with an important message, 'Hello, Meadow!' is a very special and unreservedly recommended addition to family, daycare center, preschool, and community library board book collections for children ages 6 months to 3 years."

From the Publisher

07/01/2023

PreS-Gr 1—Photorealistic flora and fauna is blended with more anthropomorphized animals and cartoon-style people in a book that shows how meadows can be enjoyed and protected at the same time. By using binoculars, human families can keep their distance from animal families. The paths that are provided for the diverse meadow visitors ensure that the open spaces go untrammeled along with the creatures who call those places home. VERDICT A lesson delivered without preaching, no more than a gentle request to cooperate with natural habitats. A good first guidebook to have on hand.

School Library Journal

2023-01-25
Rhymes and pictures urge us to protect the fragility of deceptively sturdy-looking, wildlife-rich meadows.

As in Eat Up, Bear! (2021), author and illustrator again team up to show small folks—and their parents—how to enjoy nature without harming it. The opening spread shows heedless human behavior (littering, flower-picking) in a lovely natural site, but the rest of the book instructs readers how to treat flora and fauna with respect (staying on the trail, observing wildlife from a distance). A rocking, slightly evolving refrain appears on most spreads: “Hello, Meadow! How are you? / We can help our meadows, too!” The simply drawn, brightly hued illustrations are graced with a multitude of accurately depicted plants and animals: red-shouldered hawk, Turk’s-cap lilies, lupine, blue flags, milkweed, monarch butterflies, red-winged blackbird, and much more (though none are identified as such in the text). The friendly mouse on the cover can be spotted on every page, and in the final spread, the very people who were endangering the meadow back at the start are now enjoying the same activities without risking harm to the environment. The last couplet underscores the point: “Every grown-up, every child, / can help keep meadows strong and wild.” Human characters vary in skin color and age, from a bespectacled, light-skinned older adult to a brown-skinned infant in a carrier. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

An early, age-appropriate lesson in how to appreciate the natural world. (Board book. 1-4)

Kirkus Reviews