Wonder Walkers

Excellent for enriching vocabulary, developing creative thinking, and enhancing a love of nature.

"Wonder walk?" says a brown-skinned child with long hair, speaking to a curly-haired child who might be a younger sibling. Archer (Daniel's Good Day) dwells on their faces as they gaze out of a double window, framing them in graceful symmetry. "Sure," the second child responds. Outside, the long-haired child gazes up at the blue sky as tendrils of mist thread through green cut-paper trees. "Is the sun the world's light bulb?" On a bridge, the two gaze at fog rolling over the water. "Is fog the river's blanket?" This is their shared ritual: walking, taking pleasure in the beauty they see, and asking questions about the natural world's construction. Some of the queries understand the Earth as one great, living, breathing creature: "Is dirt the world's skin?" "Is the wind the world breathing?" The two children close their eyes, feeling the breeze on their faces. Sumptuous artwork employs collaged textured and patterned paper to represent rich expanses of sea and sky alongside the individual petals of black-eyed Susans. Asking good questions is at the heart of discovery, and Archer's young wonder walkers show readers how it's done. Ages 3-7. (Mar.)

Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

"Language that is spare and economic yet profound and beautifully poetic. Only wonderstruck children, confronting nature's gorgeous mysteries, could express themselves so intimately, creatively, and originally. Youngsters reading/hearing this book on laps or in groups, and grown-ups, too, will be charmed, enlightened, and moved by these breathless queries. . . . At the book's conclusion, children may want space to discuss, dictate, write, and/or illustrate their own questions/ideas about nature. Luminous ink-and-collage illustrations are lush and vivid, perfectly suiting the text. . . . Excellent for enriching vocabulary, developing creative thinking, and enhancing a love of nature."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review