Holiday Gift Books for Children who Love Nature

I love to begin this article each fall with a read-aloud book for adults reading to young children, something with beautiful art and a simple, lovely story.

Brothers Terry and Eric Jan made a dreamy, artistic book a few years ago called The Night Gardener, in which the families on Grimloch Lane awoke each day to find a tree in their neighborhood had been transformed into a topiary animal. The neighborhood becomes a magnificent zoo of living sculpture, and the people were also transformed. A little boy discovers the night gardener who is the secret artist, and is privileged to become his assistant. His young life is changed forever. This is the story of a child who falls in love with gardening. What could be better for a gardener’s child or grandchild?

Some nature and garden books are designed for adults to share with children; some are created for the children alone. Here is one that can be used either way, or both: A Year in the Wild by Julie Starr. Not much to read here, in fact – the book is a list of “365 Activities for Nature Loving Children”. Each suggestion asks the child to make note of his feelings and observations, as well as weather and seasonal considerations, as he performs the outdoor action for the day. It may be as simple as feeding the ducks at a local pond or jumping on a trampoline, or perhaps the child will build a human-sized bird nest or build and shoot off a bottle rocket. This might be a fun book for Saturday play dates, some of which children can manage themselves, or for Sundays spent with grandmother.

For less experimental or actively outdoorsy child explorers, I recommend Julia Rothman’s Nature Anatomy Activity Book for Curious Kids. This is a book of games and puzzles featuring nature learning. They range from crosswords to mazes, from coloring butterflies correctly to studying seeds from trees. And while playing the games, the reader amasses a surprising amount of information – how to identify different kinds of clouds; how a tree builds itself, and how to identify it by its leaves; how to identify a spider by its web; what do different backyard animals eat, and why….And then there are the creations: a mobile showing phases of the moon, a constellation model made using marshmallows, an origami fox. Something for every child to explore and learn from on his or her own.

Older children may find lots of fun activities in this next book: Herbology Magic, from the films of Harry Potter. Crafts are by Jim Charlier and text by Jody Revenson. For the first 11 years of his life Harry lived on Privet Drive, and one brief activity is the building of house numbers, as if for his uncle’s house there. But these authors are devotees of native gardens – that’s all they will say about privet! Boo, hiss, privet! Most of the book’s creative projects result in actual living gardens. There are chapters devoted to the creation of a variety of terrarium gardens, to indoor planters and of course the appropriate planting of them, to outdoor gardens and garden décor (house numbers, trellis orbs, a pensive birdbath), and finally the true magic to be found in gardens themselves. This book is a marvel; great fun for any Potter enthusiast, including me!

Finally, and Most Important of All! This year an adaptation of Doug Tallamy’s masterwork Nature’s Best Hope was released by Timber Press (adaptation by Sarah L. Thompson). The original volume is, in my opinion, the most important book any gardener should read. This adaptation is designed for middle school readers. It clarifies for young readers the essential reasons for bringing native plants into the home landscape – the reasons that allow gardeners to reverse the death of species – plants, insects, birds, and animals – in our modern world. It leads kids to a clear understanding of how they too can make meaningful headway against climate change and the loss of biodiversity. This book is not only educational, it is the most hopeful leadership we can provide. Every child should have it.