Book Reviews - Earth Day is April 22nd ~ Some fabulous Children's Books to Celebrate: Zonia's Rain Forest ; Juana Martinez-Neal and Zee Grows a Tree; Elizabeth Rusch

Zonia's Rain Forest; Juana Martinez - Neal

2021 Candlewick Press 

Zonia's Rain Forest is a kid-friendly opportunity to learn about the rain forests and how the beauty of this environment is in jeopardy. Zonia is a young Ashaninka girl who lives with other Indigenous people in the Peruvian rain forest. Each day she spends time chatting with the critters who live there.  She loves her outdoor adventures.  One day it becomes clear that the future of the rain forest is questionable as a result of deforestation and action clearly needs to be taken to protect it. 

From adorable sloths to jaguars, snakes, leopards, birds, turtles, anteaters and more compromised living things, Zonia's Rain Forest is a call to action. The color appropriate pencil and ink pallet images and illustrations on paper made of banana bark are impressive and really draw the reader into the rain forest along side of Zonia and her friends.

This is a wonderful book to start educating young children about environmental issues.

A beautiful book meant to educate the very young about our compromised environment. A great book for personal collections as well as school and public library collections. I found the information about the Ashaninka people so interesting and a glossary was a wonderful addition as well. A perfect book to read to children in celebration of Earth Day.

Ages 4 to 8 

40 pp

Zee Grows a Tree; Elizabeth Rusch (Ill. Will Hillenbrand

Candlewick Press - 2021

On the very day that Zee Cooper is born a Douglas Fir seedling sprouts on her family's Christmas Tree Farm.  As Zee grows, so does the seedling. As her mom and dad cared for Zee, they also nurtured the seedling that sprouted into a big tree. As Zee grew she began to care for her tree as well often comparing height until the tree's height eventually surpassed Zee.  One summer drought hit hard and damaged the tree so it needed extra protection again the upcoming winter. The extra love and protection helped the tree survive.

I thought this was a very sweet and touching story that followed Zee and the Douglas fir from birth to age 8 and measured  various milestones. I liked that there was an index and suggestions for both enjoying and preserving precious trees.  With glossy pages and pleasing art and a story and simple text that should be appropriate for children between the ages of 4 and 8.  This is another Earth Day winner. Be sure to add this to your personal library.