Gorgeous book of poetry

I must admit that I don't read a lot of children's poetry, but one of the things I've been trying to do is broaden my appreciation of children's books in general. I fell so in love with the illustrations & design of Outside Your Window that I ended up reading the poetry and not just the illustrations. While I try not to buy too may books, I kept going back to pick this one up and reasoned that if I waited to have children, it would probably be out of print, so if I loved it (and I do!) I had to buy it. So now it sits on my shelf and every day or so, when I'm tired of typing papers, I pull it from the shelf and randomly flip it open.


Outside Your Window A First Book of Nature
by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Mark Herald
This book is at the top of my list of most beautifully illustrated books this year. Mark Herald collages together painted papers, hand printed papers, patterned papers, and other materials to created textured scenes from nature. Each illustration reflects the tone of Davies' accompanying poem and children will be drawn to her insights about each season. Frogs' eggs are "like spotted jelly" and soil is "crumbly and moist as cake mix" while snow keeps "a diary of things that happened when you were asleep." Outside Your Window is a splendid introduction to poetry and nature alike.