Links: Faculty's Choice: Linda Salem, SDSU Children's Literature Librarian

Nature in Children's Literature: An Annotated Bibliography based on
The Alphabet of Trees

• The alphabet of trees: A guide to nature writing (2000) is a collection of essays by nature writers and teachers that offers ideas for using writing and reading to help people see themselves as part of the "larger natural community." This bibliography includes many of the books discussed by Susan Karoska and uses an approach to annotation inspired by essays in the collection. This list includes books about urban settings, natural disasters, persona, and imagination.


• Derby, S. (1996). My steps. New York: Lee & Low Books, Inc.
  A girl describes the steps of the urban building where she lives. In spring, she imagines the steps are a shady cave and pretends the cracks in the cool cement are rivers. In summer, the cement is hot, her crayons melt, and she eats popsicles on the steps. In fall, the girl sweeps leaves off of her steps. In winter she shovels snow and scrapes ice.


• Falwell, C. (2001). David's drawings. New York: Lee & Low Books, Inc.
  David learns that nature is both a shared experience and an individual one. David sees a leafless tree on a winter day. At school, he draws a picture of the tree. His friends want to add to it, deciding that it needs grass, leaves, birds, animals, clouds and people. When he gets home from school, David draws again his original picture of the tree with no leaves and hangs it on his wall with the title "My Drawing."


• George, J. C. (1978). The wounded wolf. New York: Harper & Row, Inc..
  Roko the wolf is wounded in a caribou hunt and limps to shelter rock. Ravens, a fox, and an owl follow so they can eat him if he dies. Roko reaches shelter rock and is protected. The wolf pack leader brings meat and Roko shakes out the bone, flesh, and grizzle he doesn't eat for the ravens, the fox, and the owl to scavenge. Roko heals and moves on.


• Kurtz, J. (2000). River friendly, river wild. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.
  These poems are about the 1997 flood of the Red River in Grand Forks, North Dakota and are dedicated to those who have picked up their lives after a natural disaster. Residents sandbag, pack for evacuation, and evacuate. They cope with contamination and loss as they clean up. Help arrives from total strangers. Illustrations by Neil Brennan are oil glaze paintings layering burnt sienna over blue greens.


• Livingston, M. C. (1986). Earth songs. New York: Holiday House.
  The reader asks the Earth to share her secrets. Earth introduces herself as our home. She invites us to walk her hills and warns of her volcanoes. She tells readers the forests are her own. She says if you dry up her waters, she will die. At the end, the reader asks earth to share her secrets and Earth begins again, introducing herself as our home.


• Martin, B., Jr. & Archambault, J. (1985). The ghost-eye tree. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.
  When a brother and sister walk to the edge of town for a bucket of milk, they pass the Ghost-Eye tree, a giant oak in silhouette against a purple night sky. When the wind comes up, the tree turns to the children, shakes its arms and howls at them. The children laugh, scream, and never forget the excitement of the journey. Illustrations by Ted Rand.


• Sato, S. (1971). I wish I had a big, big tree. New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books.
  Kaoru's imagines a tree so big he must draw it horizontally across many pages. He lives in his imaginary tree house with squirrels, jays and chickadees. In his tree house, leaves fall in autumn, the stove warms him in winter, and crickets sing in the summertime. The tree's ecosystem is a source of constant activity. Kaoru asks his parents for such a tree. He and his father plant a small tree that will grow. Illustrations by Tsutumo Murakami.


• Torres, L. (1993). Subway sparrow. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux.
  A young girl, a teenage boy, a man who speaks Spanish, and a woman who speaks Polish communicate through their common goal to rescue a sparrow trapped in their subway car. This multilingual book shows how nature in an urban setting connects people who might not otherwise communicate with one another.


• Wiesner, D. (1990). Hurricane. New York: Clarion Books. 1990.
  The fallen elm tree the morning after a hurricane hits becomes a playground for two boys who explore it. They pretend it is a jungle or a rocket ship. Sometimes they just sit in it and daydream. Even though they are disappointed when the tree is hauled away, they have new appreciation for the other great elm still standing in their yard.


• Wiesner, D. (1997). Sector 7. New York: Clarion Books.
  On a field trip to the Empire State Building, a boy is taken by a cloud to Sector 7, the cloud factory. The boy redraws the blue prints issued at the factory for the clouds. He draws sea creatures like blowfish and starfish. The clouds take these shapes and from then on the skies are filled with clouds shaped like sea creatures.


• McEwen, C. & Statman, M. (Eds.). (2000). The alphabet of trees: A guide to nature writing. NY: Teachers & Writers Collaborative.


• This bibliography was compiled by Linda Salem (lsalem@mail.sdsu.edu) for the 2004 Spirit of the Land Conference at SDSU.

February 2004