4 Poetry Books About the Great Outdoors

From wind to wildlife, bring a touch of nature into kids’ reading selections with these books about the natural world.

CROWDER, Melanie & Megan Benedict. Great Gusts: Winds of the World and the Science Behind Them. illus. by Khoa Le. 48p. Candlewick/MIT Kids. Mar. 2024. Tr $18.99. ISBN 9781536224511.
Gr 4-6–“Can you ever really see the wind?” “Can you ever really know the wind?” Two short questions and poetic suggestions toward the beginning of this book invite readers to personally experience wind. “Lift your face to the breeze—/ let it bathe your cheeks/ sift through your hair/ tease your fingertips./ Listen/ while the wind whispers its name.” This fanciful idea of the whisper leads directly to the “Bull’s-Eye Squall,” a poem about the squall blowing off the coast of South Africa. The winding tour goes on through 13 more places around the world where specially named winds blow across land, water, mountains, cities, deserts, and snowy expanses. Stops include Japan, the Pennine Mountain Range in Northern England, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Windy City of Chicago. Short lines of poetry, mostly blank verse, flow down picture book pages to terse explanations. Simple, digitally created scenes often include children, sometimes with a local animal. Softly shaded sweeps of sky and curving lines swirling everywhere show the wind’s direction. End materials add brief comments on air in motion making the wind, the local naming of wind, and local poetic traditions used in a few poems. Geographic locations of the listed winds are shown as numbers on a circular globe, and there’s a glossary and short bibliography of related children’s books. The picture book format suggests a younger audience, but children in the middle grades will likely not be familiar with all of the named locations or readily grasp the fairly technical explanations. Some poems read aloud could spark classroom discussion and lead to further study of the ever-growing presence of wind. VERDICT Put this book of poems in the hands of talented science teachers.–Margaret Bush

FLORIAN, Douglas. Windsongs: Poems About Weather. illus. by author. 48p. S. & S./Beach Lane. May 2024. Tr $18.99. ISBN 9781665937726.
PreS-Gr 1–This nonfiction picture book blends the beauty of weather with the elegance of poetry through its unique and memorable style. Each spread features a different element of weather, including types of storms, instruments used to measure weather, and more. The verses all vary in style, incorporating some rhymes and visual stylings to connect the words with their topics of focus. Many poem selections resemble a weather type, such as a spiral for a hurricane and lightning emerging from a cloud. These artistic choices serve the dual purpose of introducing children to the varied ways in which poetry can be created, as well as providing readers with a memorable way of recognizing weather features. Facing each poem is an accompanying illustration that embraces childlike art, using visible pencil lines, asymmetrical imagery, and muted hues. Together, the text and pictures make the concept of weather accessible to a very young audience, especially when used to teach about weather for the first time. A glossary provides more detailed information about each featured weather type, enhancing the learning that can happen thanks to this book. VERDICT A unique and accessible title that helps young children connect to weather in a foundational and introductory manner.–Mary Lanni

SCHAUB, Michelle. Leafy Landmarks: Travels with Trees. illus. by Anne Lambelet. 40p. Sleeping Bear. Mar. 2024. Tr $18.99. ISBN 9781534112872.
Gr 3-7–In this engaging and creative introduction to poetry, Schaub weaves geography, botany, and history throughout the narrative of a family’s road trip to historical trees in the United States. Tree leaves flood the endpapers with poetry types and descriptions highlighted on the family’s journey. Lambelet’s digital art carefully layers the leaves, authentically providing texture and warmth, and the selection of fonts to identify tree species and landmarks suits each spread. “Hit the Road,” a quatrain, introduces the leafy adventure with a fantastic map of all the stops and provides opportunities for cross-curricular discovery. Each tree stop includes a poem with its listed form, the location and species of the tree, and a paragraph of information about why the tree is significant. California’s General Sherman, Nebraska’s Arbor Day Oak, Oklahoma City’s Survivor Tree, and the cherry trees of Washington, D.C., are some of the stops. Petrified Forest in Arizona is a study of contrasts and beauty, evoking the past and present through art and prose. Literary devices and forms are varied and the art provides further depth. “The Emancipation Tree” is the only piece that lacks consistency in word choice and framing. Its nonet poem, “Shady Haven,” discusses that people were “Slaves no more./ Hopeful./ Free.” In the informational text for this tree, it uses “enslaved African Americans” and “slaves.” It is an unfortunate blemish on an otherwise impressive book. The family of four is interracial; the father is a man of color, and the mother is light-skinned. VERDICT Recommended for poetry collections, although it is best suited for guided reading.–Rachel Zuffa

SILVERMAN, Erica. The City Sings Green & Other Poems About Welcoming Wildlife. illus. by Ginnie Hsu. 40p. HarperCollins/Clarion. Apr. 2024. Tr $19.99. ISBN 9780358434566.
PreS-Gr 3–Urban life, wildlife, and everyday life all artfully blend together in this notable book of poetry starring high-impact visuals, remarkable vocabulary, and impeccable rhyming verse with a smidgen of activism that quickly shows readers how humans intervene so nature can work her magic. For instance, in a Los Angeles schoolyard, a blacktop is removed and seeds are sown, as an oasis of wild flora invites a rare burrowing owl to take notice and move in. When migrating birds soar the Mississippi Flyway over Chicago, city dwellers adopt a voluntary Lights Out Chicago to protect the birds from artificial light distractions. These are only two examples of how Silverman showcases global environmental impacts of rewilding cities. Page by page, Silverman’s poetic mastery shines as she leads readers into her well-crafted world of rhyme and scientific information. This good narrative incorporates awareness of empathy and learning that Hsu artfully captures in her brightly colored drawings that deftly complement the prose. VERDICT The concept of worldwide changes to better support urban wildlife is told through exquisite rhymes wrapped around big, bold blossoms of color that, along with the plentiful learning resources, will captivate readers. A must-have poetry book worthy of close attention.–Lyn Smith