Book Review: The Poetry of Environmental Education

April is a spectacular month celebrating the environment and the written word. This week we celebrate Earth Day (April 22) and Arbor Day (April 24) and we're still celebrating National Poetry Month. So, this week I am recommending a book of poems about the nature world.

Title: The Seldom-Ever-Shady Glades
Author & Illustrator: Sue Van Wassenhove
Publisher: Word Song of Boyds Mill Press

I have never experienced a book quite like this one. The illustrations of natural scenes of the Florida Everglades are actually quilts! For each poem there is a corresponding quilted illustration – of herons fishing, manatees and rays swimming in the deep blue, palm trees swaying in the wind, birds nesting, and alligators with mouths agape. She uses poems, both short and long, to portray very accurate scenes of food web dynamics, colorful biodiversity, animal courtship rituals, animal behavior, and life in the perilous Everglades. Ideal for students in grades 4-7.

I'm very taken by the art of this book. As a child I only thought of quilts as sets old heavy bed covers made scrap pieces of materials. It wasn't until I was older that I came to appreciate the artistry, craftsmanship, mathematics, and creativity of quilts. In African-American history classes I learned that many slaves and later freed slaves used quilts to tell family histories and stories of escape. I later learned about the art and craft of quilting. Quilters - whether individual or a group, would work for hours arranging scraps of cloth in precise geometric patterns to create something both beautiful and functional. So, I am really in awe by the author and illustrator of this book for creating such lovely nature scenes that are so colorful and creative. Textile art is such a beautiful way to express oneself and it uses products of nature, too. How green!

I'll be thinking about this book when I go visit the Mary Lee Bendolph, Gee's Bend Quilt Exhibit at the Missouri History Museum in St. Louis. If you live in the area or if you and your family are coming in the St. Louis area for vacation this summer you must stop by and see it. The exhibit is on display until September 13, 2009.