Environment and Nature Books

My Favorite Childrens' Book Of All Time! This book has a very good moral about recycling and saving the earth, it's a great book to read to a child. If I could I'd rate it with ten stars!

A Pig Tale is a very catchy poem about a little pig named Ziggy and his dad, Pop Iggy. Ziggy gets made fun of by everyone because his dad collects junk. Then one day, his dad announces that he will make something spectacular with all of his junk and everyone waits to see what it will be. When the barn doors open, everyone sees his "amazing invention, a most beautiful thing!" It's a beautiful balloon! Ziggy and his father circle the globe in their balloon and Ziggy is very proud of his father. The story has a wonderful morale: "Protect our dear earth. Don't throw it away. You, too, could make magic from garbage someday. This is an excellent book to have around during the study of Earth Day, especially for younger children.

I think when someone has great talents such as Olivia they need to do something with them. Of course, to a certain extent, but to not share them by acting, singing, or writing or whatever it takes to express/share the talents is selfish & wasteful. I have loved Olivia Newton-John since she first hit the scene & have never been able to get enough of her. I am not meaning to sound weird or anything, it's just that Olivia has rare qualities & if she shared just a little more of herself through acting or more importantly a book on her self it would prove to be a great asset to the world & the many people who would benefit from it, like myself. I would love to have a recent book of Olivia Newton-John on my bookshelf to reinstate juvenation, as an inspiration & just to enjoy in my leisure. I don't know about others but I find many people interesting; however, Olivia takes the cake. I'm not saying she's obligated in anyway or that she should be obligated to do these things with her talent, because of course she is human, too, & deserves her freedom; but if I had talent like that & someone said these things to & about me, I think I would be encouraged to fill their request(s) not due to obligation but simply in the term of that "IF I CAN HELP EVEN JUST ONE PERSON GET THROUGH LIFE A LITTLE EASIER, THEN I HAVE ACCOMPLISHED A LOT!!!" & I believe the world would greatly benefit from a person with Olivia's talents & therefore a recent up-to-date book on herself. I would really like to have something from Olivia to this effect. Olivia is a fantastic person & is a Blessing in disguise.

Sit down with your children and read a very pleasent story. They will love it and so will you. A great way to have some real family time together.

I've read this book to my kids time and time again. The message of the importance of recycling has really hit home with them. They enjoy the rich illustrations and the rhyming verses are very catchy. Your kids will love it too!

WOW!!...every parent reading this book to their child will benefit as much as their children...it's about as "GREEN' as it gets.

At last,an 'instruction manual' for today's children on how to preserve and enrich our enviroment written in a language they can both enjoy and understand. Disney and the world would both benefit from the animated version.

Finally, a delightful, colorful children's book that addresses some of the ills that are facing our planet today. This book with page turning and upbeat illustrations defines some of the challenges to our planet and the need to be "green". Written in simple language that a child can understand, it also explains some of the ways that the child can be part of the solutions. They feel important and happy that they can contribute to resolving the problem. All the children that I have shared this book with, request it be read to them over and over again! They love the story and the pictures!

In this charming,informative book young children learn how they and their family can make small changes to improve the environment.Colorfully illustrated,easy to read, with helpful suggestions for young readers.Ideal for beginning a dialogue about "thinking green."
Buy it for your children and grandchildren.Planet Earth Gets Well

Planet Earth Gets Well This is a refreshing take on how to help our world survive the harm that we humans continue to inflict on it. Kids will like the voice of the main character, a young Planet Earth with fever and sniffles. Appealing and educational without being stuffy, Mother Nature and the rest of the charming cast help round out the message that we can all do our part to clean up the environment.

This book gives children who are beginning to understand minutes, hours and days a good idea of the enormity of time. The drama of the story is captured in drawings of intense colors and engaging images. Each page allows focus on one idea, which is clearer, for younger children. The interactions between David and the kids, and the kid's reactions, are good. The main idea -wildness has wisdom- is well emphasized: even the mysteries e.g. how life began. The additional information at the end is a good reference for older children. Also, places to help the planet is useful.

This book is an excellent example of a children's book format which can appeal to the gamut of age spans. The illustrations are remarkable, as is the story line itself. If you have children or wish you were a child (again) this book is an invaluable addition to your library. I recommend it to anyone who holds in their heart a place for special things.

I've long admired David Brower. And Aleks Petrovitch has done a great job illustrating this book and bringing David's thoughts to our next generation of environmentalists.

This is a good way to educate a child you know about the environment and why it is important.

I highly recommend it.

Harry S. Pariser Publisher, Manatee Press

Aleks Petrovitch has done a wonderful job depicting early earth and portraying the evolution of life in a context easily understood by kids. By using an imaginitive story line with beautifull illustrations, this book is a must for parents wishing to provide initial insight into conservation, protecting our beaches and general history of our earth! Aleks has also provided a more in depth analysis to each page of his book which help refresh our sciences allowing each story reader to emphasize particular points and aide in explanation! Well Done!

This book is an excellent example of a children's book format which can appeal to the gamut of age spans. The illustrations are remarkable, as is the story line itself. If you have children or wish you were a child (again) this book is an invaluable addition to your library. I recommend it to anyone who holds in their heart a place for special things.

Brian Walker, Program Director Resilience Alliance and a scientist with the CSIRO. Canberra Australia, has, with the assistance of science writer David Salt, written the best and most straightforward work on ecological resilience entirely suitable for a wide audience of readers; activists, teachers, scientists from any number of disciplines, interested in gaining a familiarity with a study area that is of critical importance in this present world of catastrophe, forever changing with the calamitous onset of climate change and where stategies of adaptation are quite indequate mechanisms for survival in the white-water world we will have to navigate.

It is not a scientific treatise but a work from which all interested readers will benefit substantially no matter what their background or credentials. This is a twentyfirst century production coauthored with a skilled science writer and a model for any NGO or scientific group who wish to influence and inform policy makers with something they can readiliy understand.. Resilience capability and building such capacity is perhaps the best, but still uncertain, way to buffer social-ecological systems--your everyday environment--from unpredictable, disastrous events and accompanying change. Adaptation and models based on orthodox science are unfortunately inadequate to meet such crises. I recommend this book to any concerned person no matter their level of understanding. They will find something new and enlightening here.

This is a gem of an educational book. Mixing case studies with elaborating chapters on key concepts, it's as a good a volume as I have found for teaching undergraduates, graduates, and practitioners (farmers, factory managers, investors) the core ideas needed to restore a sustainable social-ecological system.

Highlights for me:

+ Optemization is a false premise, simplifies complex systems we do not understand, with the result that we end up causing long-term damage.

+ Resilience thinking is systems thinking. I cannot help but think back to all of the excellent work in the 1970's and 1980's--the authors were simply a quarter century ahead of their time.

+ In a nut-shell, resilient system can absorb severe disturbance.

+ System resilience is affected by context, connections across scales of time and space, and current system state in relations to threshholds.

+ Fresh water, fisheries, and topsoil depletion are major failures.

+ Drivers of environmental degradation are poverty, willful excessive consumption, and lack of knowledge (from another book, I recall that changes to the Earth that used to take 10,000 years now take three, one reason we need real-time science).

+ Key concepts are threshholds and adaptive cycles. Adaptive cycles have four phases: Rapid Growth; Conservation; Release; and Reorganization.

+ Redundancy is NOT a dirty word (just as intelligence--decision support--should not be a dirty word within the United Nations)

+ Ecological networks cannot be understood nor nurtured with a tight linking and understanding of the social networks that interact with the ecological networks.

+ Subsidies are a form of social denial, as they subsidize unsustainable practices and prevent adaptation and change.

+ Lovely--absolutely lovely--chart on page 89 about time-scales of climate and natural disasters like major fires.

+ One size does not fit all--solutions for one social-ecological network, e.g. in the USA, will not be the same as for another, e.g. in Norway.

+ Diversity is the key to regeneration.

+ Governances must be able to see and act upon key intervention points.

+ A Resilient world would be characterized by:

1. Diversity
2. Ecological variables
3. Modularity
4. Acknowledgement of slow variables
5. Tight feedbacks
6. Social capital
7. Innovation
8. Overlap in governance
9. Ecosystem services

Within this small and very easy to absorb book one finds a great annotated bibliography of recommended readings, a fine reference section, and a very solid index.

Other books that come to mind as complements to this one (limited to ten links by Amazon):
The leadership of civilization building: Administrative and civilization theory, symbolic dialogue, and citizen skills for the 21st century
Society's Breakthrough!: Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People
Ecological Economics: Principles And Applications
Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution
Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage
Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things
The HOK Guidebook to Sustainable Design
High Noon 20 Global Problems, 20 Years to Solve Them
Pandora's Poison: Chlorine, Health, and a New Environmental Strategy
The Blue Death: Disease, Disaster, and the Water We Drink

A MUST read for environmentalists. And for business, community and anyone willing to adapt the thinking to their situation. Brian and David have done a superb job in translating resilience theory and its close ties to complex adaptive systems. I have been looking for a book to recommend to my clients and students and this is it. I would also strongly recommend that the 'old guard' sustainability brigade have a look at this. The strategies that sustainability largely pursues are unsustainable. Resilience thinking is a more accurate path for us to head toward something that resembles sustainability. Well done.

This book is Latour's actor network theory in another guise, with the physicalization of Kuhn's paradigm shift thrown in for good measure. It is a very interesting book on an emerging way to look at environmental crises (note, not the environmental crisis. We seriously need local knowledge and local experience to manage each individual ecosystem).

My major issues with this book are twofold. One is that it is not well written, though not altogether poorly written, you can simply tell when the science writer came in to jazz things up. Secondly, the authors spend a little too much time trying to convince the reader that resilience thinking is NEW, DIFFERENT, SUBVERSIVE, and the like. We get, on page 29, something that I just cannot stand: a little briefer than brief history of challenge to dogma. Galileo spoke out about the Copernican model (which was still perfect circles, Kepler had it right but Galileo ignored him) and the church shot him down. Darwin dared to say species change and the world exploded! Now, we, the humble new scientists bring you a new challenge to the dogma of ecology today. Give me a break! I would have thought a science writer on the team would have had the experience to leave out this trite nonsense. Just tell me about your idea and spare me the drama! Sorry, but poor history of science is a real pet peeve. :-)

But either way, this is still an important book that should be read by ecology students, politicians, resource managers, and anyone interested in new ideas. The case studies are really informative and clear, and the message is properly urgent

This is a great book. I've read several books on this topic, and so far, they have all had a similar issue: They are written by people who are scientists first, writers second. This book has two authors. One is a scientist and the other is a science writer. This made for a well put-together, understandable explanation of complex adaptive systems, which are what ecosystems are currently understood to be.

The authors have done a few things to make the book great. First, they have broken the topic down into a set of subtopics, with one chapter explaining each subtopic. At the end of each chapter is a summary of important points so it's clear what the authors are hoping you get out of the chapter. Each chapter is then followed by a case study that is used to illustrate the ideas just covered.

If you are looking for an introductory book on ecosystems and how humans affect their ability to maintain themselves, this is the book to read. The authors also provide several good resources at the end of the book if you would like to expand your knowledge further.

I'm often frustrated by books on "the environment," much of which talk about pollution, toxic chemicals, recycling and related topics. Those strike me as questions of human health and safety - - these issues don't really value the environment for itself, but only in terms of whether or not humans are fouling our nest.

This book lays out a different vision, one much closer to the kind of manifesto that I've been looking for. Foreman wants to "rewild" large chunks of land in North America. Some of these lands will be strictly preserved, such as wildernesses and national parks, but much of the action takes place in buffer zones, corridors between preserved areas, and thinking about how to make the human-occupied matrix more friendly to nature.

Foreman wants to create four "Continental MegaLinkages," which would preserve a network of preserved lands. The MegaLinkages are breathtaking: the Pacific MegaLinkage (Baja to Alaska); the Spine of the Continent MegaLinkage (Central America to Alaska through the Rockies); the Atlantic MegaLinkage (Florida through the Appalachian Mountains to New Brunswick); and the Arctic-Boreal MegaLinkage (from Alaska across Canada to the Maritimes).

Did you notice that the prairies of the United States and Canada are completely left out? Neither did Foreman. He never discusses them. That was my biggest single disappointment of the book, and it cost him that fifth star.

To make his argument, Foreman talks about how humans have caused extinctions from the Stone Age until the present - - 40,000 years of environmental destruction. Then he talks about the core ideas of conservation biology to set the stage for his proposed MegaLinkages. In particular, he emphasizes the importance of cores, corridors and carnivores.

Both the extinctions chapters and the presentation of conservation biology are well-written and clear. If you're not familiar with these ideas, this is a good place to get an introduction.

Then Foreman descends to the nitty-gritty details about how activists can survey a region and put together proposals for preserved lands and linkages between them. These chapters draw heavily on his own experience in the Southwest, especially in New Mexico. It's not obvious to me that they translate well to, say, boreal Canada - - or to the prairies. A greater diversity of examples would help him here.

Objections aside, this is an impressive and impassioned manifesto. Foreman makes a convincing case that we need to think about how to preserve a lot of lands on a very large scale. There are other books making similar cases, and I've reviewed a few others on Amazon, but this one is the best for the general reader.

Finally there is something which dares to challenge conventionality in its face and say capitalism and manifest destiny arent doing us any favours... This books opens your mind to greater processes and aspirations than what were are trained for in society... go for it!

Nearly 60 years ago, Aldo Leopold gave the world a treasure: his "Sand County Almanac". "Rewilding North America" is the Sand County Almanac of our time, in eloquence as well as vision. Dave Foreman, who raised the conservation bar so shockingly (and successfully) with "Earth First!" 25 years ago, has now become an elder, a respected colleague of the leading lights in conservation biology, while carrying on his legacy of showing the rest of us new possibities for bolder and more biocentric paths of ethics and action.

"Rewilding North America" is THE environmental vision for this era and for this continent. The book begins with the most succinct and heart-stoppingly depressing summary of the bad news of biodiversity and ecological losses that I have yet encountered. But hang in there, because Foreman then masterfully unfolds a program of possibility that is both radical and realistic -- and inspirational beyond measure!

As we biodiversity and wilderness advocates continue the important work in the paradigm of preservation (that is, saving all the pieces we can against the onslaught of vapid consumerism), we can also begin to take the exciting first steps in a new form of ecological restoration. Dave's "rewilding" proposal is long-term in both directions: He considers a baseline for rewilding that goes back 13,000 years to just before the first humans arrived in North America, while setting forth a vision that is intended -- dare I say, destined -- to grow over this century and the next. That means we don't just stop at bringing back Wolf and Griz; we also start plotting paths for repatriating Cheetah to its continent of origin, and assisting Order Proboscidea in once again leisurely reshaping the tusked behemoths of the Old World into New World natives.

Onward with the Great Work!

Foreman paints both a depressing and hopeful picture of the state of eco-affairs. Sobering information regarding the war on nature along with a plan to recoup some of the biological losses mother nature has endured in the industrial/tech ages.

This is a MUST READ book for anyone with an ounce of caring in their bones for the future of life on Earth.

Dave Foreman (of Earth First!) has written a powerful manifesto for the recovery of American wild space. What is so refreshing about his approach is that, like Leopold and Thoreau before him, he recognizes that the real problem for an environmentalist who values wilderness is not how to preserve pockets of wilderness against human activity, but how to reintegrate wilderness back into our lives and habitations. One reason for this is that pockets of wilderness are unsustainable --to flourish they need to be large enough to sustain populations of large predators and that requires much more space than we currently allot to our wildlife preserves, and even this amount of space is constantly under threat. The solution is to allow for corridors that connect wild spaces, and Foreman shows how this can be done and is already being done in certain parts of North America. Another reason is that in the long run to survive as a species we are going to have to move away from the fuel intensive and non-localized approaches to economy that have been largely responsible for the decimation of vast chunks of land. Finally, he argues that there is something about wilderness that is essential to our humanity, and that the presence of vital natural areas and even of large predators closer to home is an important factor in fostering the humility in the face of nature that we are going to need to rediscover if we are to learn to live sustainably. In some ways this all might seem like a utopian project, but what is powerful about the book is how elaborately it lays out the details of how such a project can be accomplished, and how it explains the conservation science at the root of this project, and identifies the networks of organizations already working with these concerns. The point is not utopia -- literally a non-place -- but learning how to get back into place as a culture. I don't know if his vision can be put into practice but I like the vision -- and find it much more exciting and realistic and motivating than, say, the vision of conquering space and going to Mars. I also think his vision of a recovered American wildness is compatible with and complementary to visions of a green economy. This is the kind of visionary book that young politicians and activists should be reading today.

Honours children's closeness to Spirit and is a beautiful story - being based on a true story all the more memorable.

Heard about this book on NPR and bought it for nephew cos I liked the idea and the story. What wasn't clearly told was just how incredibly rich Peter Sylvada's illustrations are... all oil paintings... they capture the beauty and harsh environment of Alaska, as well as slices of life from a native Alaskan village. Even southern dwellers can see some of why those who love it do so. The story is clearly and simply told, with a very likeable heroine, and gave me shivers at the end... but it was really the illustrations that blew me away.

I purchased this book (among many on here) for my unit on whales and the Inuit (Eskimo) people for my first grade class. This was a great book to share the relationship the people have with whales. It also shared a wonderful way the communities work together as well. What a great book! If you like whales, this is a great one to read to children!

Although technically a children's book, "A Symphony of Whales" shook me up and blew me away with rich illustrations and an even more potent story. Sweet and simple, author Schuch tells the beautiful story of an Inuit girl and her whale spirit friend "Narna" -- and (not to give away the ending) the dramatic escape of three thousand whales trapped in an icy inlet of the Pacific ocean.

Not to be cute, but the book really is as much for adults as for children. Illustrator Peter Sylvada's pictures must literally be seen to be believed.

I liked the girls kindness for the whales. She was cute and lovable. She was like a mother.

In this slender volume of short essays, gracefully accompanied by the illustrations of 19th century naturalist and artist John Abbot, Maloof makes her impassioned plea for the lives of trees and forests by introducing them to us one by one.

Local rambles in Maryland provide the settings for her meditations on the lives and strategies of common species like beech, oak, maple, pine, and sycamore and under story trees like dogwood and holly, as well as bald cypress, walnut, redcedar, sweetgum and more. She breathes in the special qualities of "old-growth" air and mourns the lack of "grandfather trees," but most fascinating are the tales of interwoven life in the trees.

Many of these have to do with insects. Black locusts produce extra nectar, which feeds the ants and ladybugs that protect the tree from other insects. Except aphids, which the ants protect in exchange for their "honeydew," a euphemism for aphid urine. Ladybugs eat aphids, but there are still plenty of them and that honeydew is also the substance found all over your car when you park it under a tree, that stuff you probably call sap.

Exploring the teeming life of a tree (without the sycamore alone nine other species would be lost) Maloof, a biologist, distills numerous studies and traces the relationships among the insects, lizards, fungi, mammals, birds and people who obtain benefit from the tree. With a winning combination of science and poetry, Maloof makes her case for compassion and wonder.

--Portsmouth Herald

When I was young, my neighbor told me that when she was a child in early 20th century Philadelphia, she thought that a tree was a particular kind of plant and that was that. Imagine her amazement the first time she left the city and discovered that there were what seemed to be an infinite variety of trees!

Joan Maloof takes the reader to the next level. She explains that far from each tree being merely a unique organism, that each tree is an entire ecosystem; indeed, that each tree is an interdependent universe of organisms that depend on each other in the most unimaginably wonderful and intricate ways.

I have spent my entire life in a rural area surrounded by trees, yet reading this book awakened a new curiosity, a new appreciation, a need to explore and learn that I never felt before.

Anyone will be enriched by reading "Teaching the Trees", but for the young person steeped in consumer culture who thinks that trees are for shade or lumber and that "bugs" are pests, it could be a life-changing experience, leading to an appreciation of the wonders of the forest, and perhaps a lifetime of study and enjoyment of the miracles of nature.

Biologist Joan Maloof's ventures into the forests of the Eastern United states provide a series of lively, scientific essays on connections between tree species and the animals and insects which use it in Teaching The Trees: Lessons From The Forest. In leaving lab for direct environmental observation, Maloff's firsthand observations are lively and personal as well as scientific, exploring some of her favorite trees and their importance.

This is the type of book you savor, that you close your eyes at the end and feel you've received a special gift. I'm buying copies for my friends and family.

This is one of those books you read and it can change your life. It's an intellectually beautiful read by a biologist who has spent her life studying the relationship of trees, forests, organisms, insects and animals and explains their connections simply. I think it's an important book such as Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring". It should be in everyone's library and read over and over.

Tiia-Mai Barrett, Seattle, WA

Summers at South Point for Emily and Reese have been pretty much normal and uneventful- hanging out at Antonio's for the $2.99 pizza slice and drink combo, scoping out boys on the beach, and sleeping over at each other's houses. This summer though, things are starting to get a bit wonky- the weather is acting up, and two of the hottest boys ever have arrived, but are they boyfriend material or something else entirely...?

In Blake Nelson's debut in the sci-fi/fantasy genre, though he's written many other realistic teen novels, it feels as if he's been doing this genre forever. The suspense in this book keeps the pages turning, and it becomes a great adventure. Filled with humorous moments, hot guys, and a subtle hint of appreciation for the Earth's environment, this is one amazing book.

Okay, I'm going to tell you the secret. The mystery to be solved, the secret to be unlocked. Ready? Here it is -- they came from below.

Every summer, Emily Dalton leaves Indianapolis to spend the summer with her scientist father on Cape Cod. She spends most of her time in South Point going to the beach, eating pizza, and meeting boys with her best friend, Reese. A week into the summer, they meet Steve and Dave, two of the cutest boys they have ever seen. They feel drawn to them in a way they have never felt before, almost like they are not human.

Strange things seem to happen wherever the two of them go. A boy falls off of a roof at a local party and breaks his neck, but after a couple of minutes with Steve and Dave, he walks away unharmed. Emily and Reese realize that these guys are not just tourists. They came from below, and they need to find their way back to the bottom of the ocean. Unfortunately, they cannot return to their home until they rescue their friend from a top-secret government facility, and they need Reese, Professor Dalton, and Emily to help them do it.

This book is smart and funny. Emily and Reese are like any teens you might meet on your summer vacation. They are interesting and quirky and fun. It is so easy to get wrapped up in their story of crushes and friendship that you might not realize what the book is truly about until you have finished it. It is also about close encounters of the third kind, but it is so much more than your typical sci-fi alien encounter book. The aliens look and act like humans, but their emotional range is much deeper than anything we can feel. They experience the world in a way that we cannot imagine.

THEY CAME FROM BELOW also looks at the way that we treat the Earth. In my opinion, this is the best kind of book; one that keeps your interest, has a great story, and delivers a message with a strong impact that does not get in the way. It is science fiction, but reads like contemporary fiction. Definitely worth picking up!

Reviewed by: Becca Boland

Blake Nelson's first science fiction book for teens provides a fine blend of social commentary and science fiction. Two teen girls vacationing in Cape Cod meet two cute boys - but there the tale diverges from the usual romance, for the boys are unusual and they have an important message to impart about Earth's ecological state. In blending a familiar romance with a saga of friendly aliens and ecological concerns, THEY CAME FROM BELOW succeeds in producing a unique, involving and unpredictably satisfying story line.

Two aliens from under the ocean come up to try to save their friend. They have to find him before the world discovers his secret powers. This book was really exciting and I want to know what happens to Reese. if there is a sequal I will definitely read it.

Seventeen year old Emily and her best friend Reese have one thing on their mind (and other parts of their bodies), finding boyfriends for the summer at Cape Cod. However, their vacation starts with a strange twist as Emily finds a white blob on the beach. However, the authorities take it away so Emily gets back to the prime directive of finding a boyfriend.

Emily and Reese meet handsome German exchange students Steve and Dave; they know they have found their boyfriends. However, the male teens, who have the ability to heal people and communicate with any living organism, are leaving the planet shortly due to the levels of pollution harming them. First they must rescue a fellow ET captured by the government, followed by heroes' kisses from the girls, and then finally depart.

The fun in this young adult science fiction lies in the comparisons between the sets of teens. The American females have one goal: boyfriends; the exchange students also have one goal: rescuing an ET (though hugs and kisses with the girls is a nice byproduct). Teens will enjoy this lighthearted romp as the two teenage girls believe they finally succeeded in obtaining boyfriends even if THEY CAME FROM BELOW. Emily and Reese understand the most wonderful summer of their lives.

Harriet Klausner

As far as I'm concerned, you can never begin too early in teaching children how the innumerable elements of nature connect with each other and that messing with one element will affect everything else. Robert Baldwin's wonderful rhyming blends beautifully with Don Dyen's rich and evocative illustrations. This is a delightful book that will make young folks smile and learn a valuable lesson at the same time. On a personal note, I am so lucky that Don Dyen (whom I've never met) was chosen to illustrate my first children's book, "Benjamin and the Word," coming out spring 2005. Don, if you see this, drop me an e-mail!

My children and grandchildren are getting copies of this book for Christmas! It shows how all food is ultimately derived from sunlight and the tiny creatures that live in the seas and oceans, but it also shows how we are all connected to the sea and to each other. It is a joyful experience to read this book and enjoy the incredible illustrations.

I bought this book for my 7 year old daughter, but I'm enjoying it just as much as she is. The cumulative verse rolls with the rhythm of ocean waves. Not only is it fun to read, it teaches vital information about the food chain simply and clearly. The illustrations are beautifully appropriate, evoking the feel of the seashore, and bringing extra life to the imaginative images introduced in the verse, such as huge storm clouds looking like flying whales. I love this book!

It isn't often you come across a book that you could sit down and read to a four year old and an eight year old and still manage to capture the attention of both. "This Is the Sea That Feeds Us" has that ability. It's beautiful illustrations and the author's wondrous ability of explanation combine in that magical way that allows learning to be fun. Every child deserves to own this book.

This book has been a real find. My son, who has just turned two,absolutely loves the pictures and the rhyming text. He holds the book and gleefully waits for the next page. I love this book because I feel it is aimed at quite a wide age group. For the toddlers it has amazing pictures and the musical rhyming text; the four to six year olds, a book they can read themselves with the help of an adult; and the older reader will enjoy the scientific explanations. To sum it up, this book is beautifully written and extremely lyrical, and the artwork is delightful. Well done Robert F Baldwin, and his artist Don Dyen.

Tobias, the Quig and the Rumplenut Tree has become the family favorite book. It will be our family gift to everyone we know for the holidays. Great illustrations and a wonderful lyrical story. Put this on your list for holiday gifts.

This is our birthday gift of choice this year for all the young people and babies we know. It's a timely, gentle adventure story embellished by sumptuous drawings and the rhymes of a truly clever wordsmith. Mr. Robinson clearly has a high opinion of young children and their ability to understand a fable with an environmental message couched in intelligent verse. Thanks to him and his publisher from a grateful parent!

First drawn to the brilliant cover illustration, the story inside was beyond expectation! A moral tale for all from 4 to 99, amusingly told (and with much better rhyme!) A young good samaritan helps endangered species, in this case the quigs and the rumplenut trees. The last page sums up what Mr. Robinson has done; told a story to be passed from the old to the young.

Tobias, the Quig and the Rumplenut Tree is artfully written and beautifully illustrated. When read aloud, the rhythm and rhyme of the words flow over one with grace and style. The accompanying drawings are vibrant with color and movement and are bound to capture any child's attention. I highly recommend this book and do hope that parents will take the time to share this wonderful tale with their children.

I gave "Tobias" to my nephew on his 4th birthday and he carries it with him everywhere. Each time I've visited since, he insists that I read it to him. A wonderful story with colorful, creative illustrations.