66. If You Go Down to the Woods Today

If You Go Down to the Woods Today. Rachel Piercey. Illustrated by Freya Hartas. 2021. 40 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: Hello! I'm Bear! Can we be friends? I'd love it if we could. Perhaps you'd like to see my home, the world inside the woods?

Premise/plot: A poem introduces each spread of illustrations. There are "more than 100 things to find" as Bear brings readers into his woodsy environment. The book celebrates nature and friendship. (Though it isn't necessarily a natural NATURE. The animals definitely are doing very human things. The animals aren't really acting as animals.)

My thoughts: While the spreads definitely work together as a whole, they also stand alone in many ways. Each two-page spread is a scene. Readers are being invited IN. Most spreads have around twelve "hidden objects" to find. The illustrations are super busy--as you'd expect--and there are plenty of details. There is so much more to "discover" than just those particular illustrations. (Readers are asked to find animals, insects, flowers, etc.) The poem serves as an introduction to the scene.

I'm honestly not sure what the intended age of the audience is. Is this a book meant to be a read aloud, a shared experience between parent and child? (I do NOT see this one being a group read aloud, the illustrations would be way too small to be seen). Or is this meant to be a book read on your own? Is it for preschoolers? Or is it for elementary grades? What reading level do you need to be to get the most out of this one? Is this one that you could just "read" by looking at the pictures? Do you need to love poetry to love this one? 

One slight concern if this one is meant for children to read on their own (as opposed to a read aloud) is that the poems blend print text and cursive text. Some words do appear in cursive. Cursive can be tricky for (some) children to read. Cursive isn't always consistently taught in schools. And it definitely comes later in the reading/writing process. 

Another concern is that some of the art is definitely lost in the gutter. Each spread loses out here. And I think *some* of the hidden objects that readers are supposed to be finding are "hiding" in the gutter, or partly in the gutter. 

Quote:

Winter Brings the Cold Winter Sports

The sun is lower in the sky
and many trees are bare.
The snowflakes spiral silently
through peaceful silver air.
The wood is not so quiet, though:
it rings with rowdy glee.
We've all met up, with chattering teeth,
to sled and skate and ski.
We teeter, totter, twirl, and glide,
make angels in the snow.
We slide around the icy trees
and dodge the mistletoe.
And when our toes are truly cold,
we gulp a steaming drink.
Then out again to seize the day
before the sun can sink!

 

© 2022 Becky Laney of Young Readers