Quiet in the Garden
PreSchool-Grade 1&mdash;An artful introduction to nature, stillness, and the power of observation. A wide-eyed boy enters a garden replete with fluttering butterflies, birds, and blooming trees, all rich with color. "I sit quietly. If I am very still, I see more." He also hears sounds: "chirp, squeak, crunch." A robin eats red berries from a bush, a turtle munches moss, a lizard snaps up a moth, and so on. Animals small and large question motives as each one finds its meal: "The frog hopped up and caught a gnat.Why did you do that?asked a fish.I was hungry, said the frog,and I didn't want to eat you." Learning by observing and listening to the creatures in turn, the boy finally gathers a meal of apples, berries, carrots, and more for a picnic with his friends-the myriad creatures. With spare words and a balance of line and color against white backgrounds framed with lacey branches, Aliki deftly portrays the benefits of observing nature. Back matter tells how to grow a "quiet" garden. This book is perfect for reading aloud: "The squirrel crunched on an acorn.Why did you do that?asked the spider.Ah-wa-wan-gwy, said the squirrel, crunching away."&mdash;Marian Creamer, Children's Literature Alive, Portland, ORCopyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.