Circles of Hope for Earth Day

Make Earth Day a hopeful one with rousing outdoor and indoor activities, complemented by a colorful mix of fiction and nonfiction. One of my favorite picture books for ages 6 to 8 is Karen Lynn Williams’s Circles of Hope, set in Haiti. Williams, the author of many acclaimed multicultural picture books (Four Feet, Two Sandals, 2007; and Beatrice’s Dream, 2011), situates her simple tale of a  boy’s struggle to keep a tree alive within the larger context of his homeland’s economic struggles. Facile decides to plant a mango tree for baby sister Lucia, but it turns out to be a difficult task. Goats eat the first sapling he plants … rain washes away the second … and a fire destroys the third. Then the observant boy realizes he can use stones to protect the tree, and hope blossoms. The illustrator, Saport, adeptly uses pastels of orange and yellow to depict Haiti’s sunny, dry hillsides and creates charming fat circles for the green trees, the rounded hills, and the stones surrounding more and more trees on the island.  Williams closes her gentle story with “One year at a time, little circles of hope began to grow on the mountainsides of Haiti, and inside each circle grew a tree.” She supplies a fine teacher’s guide, as well, for her sensitive, positive story. Pair this with the nonfiction book This Tree Counts! to instill in children a greater appreciation for the importance of trees.

Older children (ages 8 to 10) adore the exciting and true story John Muir and Stickeen: An Icy Adventure with a No-Good Dog.  John Muir initially feels a dog has no business on a treacherous expedition in Alaska. He changes his mind, though, when he and Stickeen become lost on a glacier during a storm, and the dog behaves courageously.  Farnsworth’s splendid, realistic oil paintings heighten the reader’s awareness of the perilous, frozen landscape. This adventure tale provides children with a fabulous introduction to the remarkable American conservationist and founder of the Sierra Club.

For another aspect of John Muir, try Emily Arnold McCully’s Squirrel and John Muir, featuring the possible relationship between the real-life rebellious Floy Hutchings, nicknamed Squirrel, and John Muir, who inspired her love of nature.

Looking for middle-school novels relating to respect for the Earth? See my post on One Day and One Amazing Morning on Orange Street, as well as novels by Carl Hiassen, such as Hoot.

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• Muir Woods National Monument (sheryllrea.wordpress.com)

Educated by Kindness

McCully, Emily Arnold.
Wonder Horse: The True Story of the World’s Smartest Horse. Holt, 2010.

A horse is a horse, but sometimes it takes a special person to recognize its real worth. Bill “Doc” Key was born a slave, but became a veterinarian and a successful entrepreneur in post-Civil War Tennessee. Doc decided to see how much he could teach Jim, his seemingly bright little foal. With kindness and patience, he taught the horse to count, to distinguish colors and letters of the alphabet, and to add and subtract.

Doc took his prodigy on the road, and for a while, the two met with applause and amazement at fairs, theaters, and arenas. Then a newspaper reporter asked, “How could a little old black man with no education teach a dumb animal to do those things?” Doc didn’t give up, though; he invited some professors at Harvard to examine Jim Key to determine if the horse was, in fact, educated. After they confirmed  it, the newspapers set the record straight: “JIM KEY EDUCATED BY KINDNESS.”

McCully, whose sprightly watercolors add charm to this fact-based story, continues to live up to the high standard she has set in her career of writing and illustrating beloved picture books. Those yearning for more details on this amazing man and his horse can find them in the author’s note and bibliography.

Recommended Read-alouds That Call for Kindness to Animals
Note: Please leave a comment with your favorites!

Elliot, David. In the Wild. Illus. by Holly Meade. Candlewick, 2010. Fresh language and stunning woodblock and watercolor illustrations distinguish this engaging collection of poems about wild animals, ranging from the lion to the polar bear.

Image via Wikipedia

Kimmel, Eric. Brother Wolf Sister Sparrow: Stories About Saints and Animals. Holiday House, 2003. See the masterfully retold Italian legend “St. Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio,” in which St. Francis approaches a wolf that’s been terrorizing the town.

Levitin, Sonia. All the Cats in the World. Harcourt, 1984. Powerful story of friendship and kindness. No one can care for all the cats in the world, but everyone can perform acts of kindness, as an elderly woman shows a lonely, bitter old lighthouse keeper.

Meddaugh, Susan. Martha Walks the Dog. Houghton, 1998. Clever Martha uses praise to tame a hostile dog.

Pericoli, Matteo. The True Story of Stellina. Knopf, 2006.   Pericoli and his wife, Holly, rescued and raised a finch, Stellina, that had fallen from her nest onto a busy street in New York City. They nurtured the bird in their Manhattan apartment, where she leaned to eat, fly, and sing.

Spencer, Ann. And Round Me Rings: Bell Tales and Folklore. Tundra, 2003. See “Bell of Justice Rings,” a retelling of an Italian folktale, in which a horse calls attention to its mistreatment.