Our Big Home: An Earth Poem

by Linda Glaser, Elisa Kleven (Illustrator)

Overview

Young children usually think of their home as the structure in which they live. In Our Big Home, the author and illustrator present a much larger vision of home as the planet Earth. Linda Glaser's beautiful poem is a wonderful way to gently lead children toward the all-important understanding of caring for our environment. In her lyrical, child-oriented style, she presents the idea that our big home is shared not only with all people but with all plants and animals as well. She shows that we share the air, the water, the soil, and other elements that affect and sustain all of us who live on Earth. Elisa Kleven's vibrant art enhances the concept as she takes young readers to an African plain, a Caribbean island, a South American mountain, and around the world to see people and animals reveling in the beauty and abundance of our shared home.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761317760
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/01/2002
Series:	Reading Rainbow Books
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.13(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.13(d)
Age Range:	7 - 8 Years

Editorial Reviews

Glaser's (Compost!) joyous appreciation of the interconnectedness of all living things forms the heart of this celebratory picture book; Kleven's (City of Angels; Abuela) brilliant, busy art gives it its soul. In lyrical free verse stanzas, the author exalts the life-giving rain, sun, soil and air that enable numberless plants, animals and "you and me" to inhabit a most amazing planet. Her exhilaration inspires a message of ecological respect without ever mentioning it directly. The text would be merely sweet on its own, but Kleven's kinetic mixed-media compositions, pulsing with flurries of color and light, swirl and flow as they accentuate the poem's happy rhythms. She creates a vibrant tapestry of people and nature in many settings: a city park, backyards, gardens, a sunset in the Middle East and a nighttime African savanna. This title is a good addition to the Earth Day picture-book canon, but it also stands apart as a sunny look at the wonders of the natural world. Ages 5-9. (Apr.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly