About the Author

FRANK ASCH has written and illustrated more than sixty books for children, including the popular Good Night, Baby Bear. He lives in Vermont.

FRANK ASCH has written and illustrated more than sixty books for children, including the popular Good Night, Baby Bear. He lives in Vermont.

Reviews

"This appealing story gets right to the heart of a child's experience with nature . . . Delightful."--Booklist --

PreS-Gr 1-A simple story in which a boy describes his interactions with his special ``friend,'' the Earth. (``I tell her what's on my mind. She listens to every word.'') Asch's paintings show the child in close harmony with nature as he rides the back of a tortoise, plants vegetables, sings with the birds, and dances in the wind. Pollution mars their play towards the end (``When she's sad, I'm sad''), but he cleans up the garbage, plants a new flower, and hugs a tree on the final page. Despite the rainbow tones woven into each illustration, the muted pictures are blandly drawn and have little personality. They are in keeping with the universality of the author's message, but make for a rather unexciting picture book. The basic ecological theme is delivered in a straightforward manner; the book could be used to introduce nature units and is well suited to beginning readers. Nancy Carlstrom's Northern Lullaby (Philomel, 1992), Doug Florian's Nature Walk (1989), and Charlotte Zolotow's Say It! (1980, both Greenwillow) address the subject with more charm and imagination, but The Earth and I will reach even younger audiences.-Steven Engelfried, West Lynn Library, OR

"This appealing story gets right to the heart of a child's experience with nature . . . Delightful."--Booklist --