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Summary
Summary
Celebrate our planet and discover easy ways to take care of it with this picture book that's perfect for budding environmentalists and nature lovers.
Kids can count reasons to love the planet and ways to protect it in the pages of this conservation-themed book. Gentle verse reminds the reader of Earth's beauties--starting with "one wide sweeping sky, two honey bees" and continuing all the way to "ten fields to plow." The text then starts counting backwards, listing simple ways children can help, such as reducing waste and reusing items. The conclusion takes us back to number one with the book's key message: "One Earth so beautiful. Remember--only one." At once celebration and challenge, this book will encourage children to take better care of the planet.
Author Notes
Eileen Spinelli was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 16, 1942. After high school, she worked as a waitress at a local diner, a secretary, and answered phones at an airplane factory. She eventually became the author of children's books. Her picture books include Thanksgiving at the Tappletons, Do You have a Hat, While You are Away, When Mama Comes Home Tonight, Wanda's Monster, Here Comes the Year, A Big Boy Now, and Hug a Bug. She is also the author of several short novels including Lizzie Logan Wears Purple Sunglasses, Lizzie Logan Gets Married, and Lizzie Logan, Second Banana. She received the Christopher Award for Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
A helping-hands concept and fantastical illustrations elevate rhyming text in this earnest ecological counting book. Beginning with "One wide, sweeping sky./ Two honeybees," it counts up through bunnies, redwood trees, seagulls, and worms to "ten fields to plow." Then, at 10, it pivots: "Celebrating Earth--/ counting backwards now." From 10 to one, the text describes Earth-friendly actions of varying relevance to young readers, some unclear ("Six flannel shirts--too old?/ Cozier than new"), others actionable ("Five lamps to light a room?/ Try to use just two"), and some aspirational ("Four pairs of socks with holes?/ You can learn to sew"). A series of "ones" ends the book: "One moon.// One sun./ One Earth/ so beautiful.// Remember--/ only one." As the text conveys the preciousness of a single Earth, Coelho's illustrations portray it with soft, pencil-like texture. Ages 4--8. (Mar.)
Kirkus Review
A counting book uses rhyming verses to explore the natural world and then ways children can help protect it. "One wide sweeping sky. / Two honeybees. // Three bunnies in a nest. / Four redwood trees." Readers follow in the pictures as a lone child with light-brown skin in a baseball cap slowly gathers three other friends over the page turns and the course of a day: a dark-skinned girl with an Afro, a pale-skinned blonde, and another boy with light-brown skin and (oddly) a bouffant. In the middle of the book, the count turns around: "Ten scraps of litter? / Toss them in the trash. / Nine empty bottles? / Turn them in for cash." And so the four, separately and together, and with myriad family and diverse community members, explore ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Brilliant colors and detailed patterns draw eyes to the illustrations, which are the true stars here. Their vibrancy will entrance readers, who may not even bother to count. The counting is a vehicle, not the purpose, so the fact that the items may be challenging for younger readers to pick out doesn't detract in the slightest. Readers may get goose bumps as the book winds down and night falls. "One moon. // One sun. / One Earth so beautiful." The book's final line resonates: "Remember-- / only one." (Picture book. 3-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
