A Read On Spring

Children’s book reviews by Tacoma writer Rebecca Young appear monthly on the Families page.

It’s spring and children’s hearts, minds and bodies are heading outdoors. Earth Day is coming up in April. Time to think about the environment, to poke around in the dirt, to observe plants and animals, and to commune with some books about nature.

“She’s Wearing a Dead Bird on Her Head” by Kathryn Lasky - This is good history and, at the same time, a great story. Besides, who could resist the title? Minna Hall and Harriet Hemenway were two proper Boston ladies who loved birds. They began to notice a disturbing fashion. All over town, prominent women were wearing outlandish-looking hats, decorated with dead birds: an Arctic tern, the wings of a goldfinch, egrets, warblers, flamingos.

Horrified, the women decided something had to be done. But what? This was 1896, and women didn’t have much political power. So they called together the most prominent men and women in town and formed a club, which they named after John Audubon, a famous painter of birds. The newly born Audubon society was able to muster enough clout to get laws passed keeping birds from being used to decorate clothing.

Lasky, an accomplished writer of children’s non-fiction and fiction, tells an inspiring story in a highly entertaining manner, and David Catrow’s pictures are bright and lively. Tall, thin Harriet and short, round Minna are comical and wonderful characters. (Hyperion, ages 5-9, 32 pgs., $14.95.)

“Washing the Willow Tree Loon” by Jacqueline Briggs Martin - There’s been an oil spill in Turtle Bay, and the heavy, sticky oil has matted the feathers of the water birds in the bay. This quiet story chronicles the rescue efforts of a baker, a barber, a doctor, a house painter, an artist and a woman who loves hummingbirds. They have in common their love for birds, and the role each plays in the rescue and rehabilitation of a stricken loon.

It’s hard to catch the terrified loon at first, and she spends two nights shivering and trying to clean her oil-soaked feathers. Finally gentle hands catch her, and she’s taken to a wildlife rehabilitation center where many committed volunteers are waiting. There we are shown the gentle and painstaking process involved with cleaning and healing an oil-soaked bird.

Nancy Carpenter’s lovely oil and colored pencil illustrations portray events from the loon’s point-of-view, graphically showing the magnitude of an oil spill from a small creature’s perspective. (Simon & Schuster, ages 5-8, 36 pgs., $16.)

“Rolypolyology” and “Wormology” by Michael Elshon Ross - These terrific science books exhaustively and entertainingly cover two subjects dear to many a child: roly-poly bugs and earthworms. You might know roly-polies by another name: sow bugs, pill bugs or potato bugs. Almost every child has played with one. Here, Ross shows children how to study them. Hunt roly-polies; build them a hotel out of a deep container, dead leaves and soil, observe, measure, draw. All of this can be done without harming the roly-poly little creatures. Earthworms get the same treatment (with housing appropriate to their needs, of course).

Both books are humorously and clearly written, and nicely illustrated with vivid photographs and simple drawings. These are the first books in a new series - “Backyard Buddies” - designed to encourage study and observation skills by introducing youngsters to the biology, life cycle and habits of various common creatures. (Carolrhoda Books Inc., grades 1-4, 48 pgs., $14.21.)

“My First Nature Treasury” by Lizann Flatt - This big attractive picture book by the editors of Chickadee Magazine takes a huge subject and boils it down to the most fascinating essentials. Colorful double-page spreads explore: kinds of animals, how animals grow, soil up close, kinds of plants, how plants grow, food chains, air, water and many kinds of natural habitats. (Sierra Club Books for Children, ages 4 and up, 48 pages, $12.95.)

“Gardening Wizardry for Kids” by L. Patricia Kite - Barron’s puts out a terrific series of activity books. This one was published last year. It includes more than 300 indoor gardening projects and loads of information and folklore about plants.

Using inexpensive, widely available materials, children can learn to sprout plants from carrots, lemon seeds, peanuts, beans and more. They can study whether all kinds of apples have the same number of seeds and how root systems work. They can make potpourri, pressed flowers and pomander balls. And here also, there are activities involving earthworms and roly-polies.

“Creepy, Crawly Caterpillars” by Margery Facklam - Another favorite childhood creature is nicely explored in this picture book. It’s the first recent book I’ve seen that focuses on different types of caterpillars and shows each phase of their life cycle. Facklam, who has won awards for her science writing, looks at the banded wooly bear, tent caterpillar, tomato hornworm, green grappler (a type of inchworm) and others. A glossary defines the scientific terms. Her son, Paul Facklam, did the beautiful, almost photographic illustrations. (Little, Brown, ages 4 and up, 32 pgs., $15.95.)

“Backyard Safaris” by Phyllis S. Busch - The good idea and elegant execution behind this book makes it worthwhile, even though a few of the “52 year-round Science Adventures” apply only to the East Coast (such as the chapter on fireflies.)

But we certainly have our share of snow, robins and yellow jackets, so families and classes can still get good use out of this interesting book.

Organized by season, it’s full of nature outings that are as close as a local park, vacant lot or one’s own back yard. They include observing the social behavior of the ubiquitous English sparrow, searching at the base of a violet in the fall to find the hidden seed-producing flower; and summertime investigation of the temperature differences between a tree’s shade and open sun. (Aladdin Paperbacks, ages 6-10, 142 pgs., $8.95.)