Would You Come Too?

K-Gr 2--This book invites readers to explore the outside world, describing multiple aspects of nature and leading from one thought right into another, from the safety of home all the way to the ocean and back again. For example, something like a nest may be mentioned on one page, but is the focus on the next. "If we were a nest, we'd be cozy, / woven with feathers and strings. / If we were eggs, we'd be safe there, / hidden beneath pleated wings." The vocabulary is simple, with a few upper-level nature words thrown in, such as eddy, but are always clear from either narrative context or the illustration. Scanlon provides amazing encouragement for children to go outside, get muddy, and explore, a message only enhanced by Sudyka's illustrations. Her cool, rich watercolors perfectly encapsulate the feeling of wonder and discovery. VERDICT A beautiful ode to nature that flows from individual exploration to having fun with friends at the end of the day.--Margaret Kennelly

A day in the forest generates a oneness with nature in this rhyming paean with distinctive, polished verse. Opening with the refrain "If we were," meandering lines envisage what it would be like to be the wind, a pond, tadpoles, a spring, and so on. Employing watercolor gouache and digital art, the illustrations interpret "we" as beginning with two friends before gradually expanding to other playmates. Over the course of a leisurely hike, the children, portrayed with varying skin tones, swim among fish, make twig boats, build a fort, climb trees, and more. While most pages feature realistic depictions, images sometimes turn to fancy, as in a largely green spread of the kids reaching upward like plants ("If we were seeds we'd be hopeful, / reaching for water and light"). When night arrives, swirls and stars provide an ideal, dreamy close to what Garton Scanlon and Sudyka present as an idyllic experience of the wild. Ages up to 8. (Apr.)