Hello, meadow!

PreS-Gr 1--Photorealistic flora and fauna is blended with more anthropomorphized animals and cartoon-style people in a book that shows how meadows can be enjoyed and protected at the same time. By using binoculars, human families can keep their distance from animal families. The paths that are provided for the diverse meadow visitors ensure that the open spaces go untrammeled along with the creatures who call those places home. VERDICT A lesson delivered without preaching, no more than a gentle request to cooperate with natural habitats. A good first guidebook to have on hand.

Rhymes and pictures urge us to protect the fragility of deceptively sturdy-looking, wildlife-rich meadows. As in Eat Up, Bear! (2021), author and illustrator again team up to show small folks--and their parents--how to enjoy nature without harming it. The opening spread shows heedless human behavior (littering, flower-picking) in a lovely natural site, but the rest of the book instructs readers how to treat flora and fauna with respect (staying on the trail, observing wildlife from a distance). A rocking, slightly evolving refrain appears on most spreads: "Hello, Meadow! How are you? / We can help our meadows, too!" The simply drawn, brightly hued illustrations are graced with a multitude of accurately depicted plants and animals: red-shouldered hawk, Turk's-cap lilies, lupine, blue flags, milkweed, monarch butterflies, red-winged blackbird, and much more (though none are identified as such in the text). The friendly mouse on the cover can be spotted on every page, and in the final spread, the very people who were endangering the meadow back at the start are now enjoying the same activities without risking harm to the environment. The last couplet underscores the point: "Every grown-up, every child, / can help keep meadows strong and wild." Human characters vary in skin color and age, from a bespectacled, light-skinned older adult to a brown-skinned infant in a carrier. (This book was reviewed digitally.) An early, age-appropriate lesson in how to appreciate the natural world. (Board book. 1-4) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

"Meadows are such busy places.  Grasses, creatures, open spaces.  But meadows can get hurt, you see. Let's do our part to let them be. When hikers stay upon the trails... Hello, Meadow! How are you?  We can help our meadows, too! When folks leave flowers on their own... Hello Meadow! What a view! We can help our meadows, too! . . .  Every grown-up, every child, can help keep meadows strong and wild."  Excerpted from Hello, Meadow! by Terry Pierce All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.