Wonders of nature

 

Be prepared to make a trip around the world and discover some of nature's most amazing phenomenons!

 

 

 

What Are You Doing Today, Mother Nature?

This title intrigued me and so I requested this children's picture book at Netgalley.

When opening it for the first time, I was in awe for the beautiful pictures.

And while reading this book, I fell from one surprise to the next as I learned many things that were previously unknown to me.

 

 

 

 

Here's my review:

 

Although this is presented as a children's picture book, it'll certainly capture the heart of many adults too.

Why? Let's take a look!

 

The setup of this book is rather unique: arranged around the full cycle of a calendar year, each month chapter features four stories each from a different part of the world.

Thus 48 narrative nonfiction stories tell us more about fascinating natural phenomenons, fauna and flora from every continent.

As we watch the seasons go by, it's impossible not to be enchanted at all those wonders of nature!

 

Personally, I was in such awe of the many presented unknown facts (at least to me) that I wanted to know more about them and see them with my own eyes: snow leopards in Afghanistan, a superbloom at Death Valley, the sea of stars at the Maldives, the Namibia beetle which could help us solve water shortage, the several Vogelkop birds from New Guinea that are both amazingly beautiful and absolutely funny to watch, …

Thanks to Youtube there was so much educational footage that taught me even more details.

A selection of the most interesting and funniest ones can be found at my blog.

 

Biology, geography, … are some of the fields that can be explored with these stories.

Hence this book is an excellent starting point to brighten up (STEM-)classes and evoke a sense of wonder in children and adults alike.

 

The beautiful illustrations are detailed and non-linear. There are always different panels (like in a comic book) but without lines between them and with a varying order and size at each page. Most of the time the pictures efficiently guide you along the right direction. Twelve of the stories are told on 1 page and the other thirty-six are 2-page spreads which enhance the immersion of the reader in this colorful world.

You can see some of these pages at the website of the publisher (by clicking on the little icons under the cover of the book) and at the one of the illustrator (the first 7 pictures are from this book).

 

The text is written by Lucy Brownridge who's an author and editor of children's books based in London. She writes books for children about history of art, history, animals and science. She has an MA in history of art from the Courtauld Institute of Art and a BA in history of art from the University of Bristol.

 

The beautiful drawings were made by Margaux Samson-Abadie, alias Nano Février, who's a French illustrator & pattern designer with a background in textiles and fashion design. After working several years as a designer in childrenwear, she's now a freelancer always on the look for exciting projects — be it illustration for children books, magazines or surface pattern design for fashion, interior decoration, stationery, … Her work is rooted in nature, childhood memories, folklore, travels, literature, cinema and music. She likes to tackle subjects such as ecology, slow living and mindfulness. To get an idea of her work, you can head over to her website https://www.nanofevrier.com/

 

*Thanks to NetGalley and Wide Eyed Editions (an imprint of The Quarto Group) for providing a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

 

After reading each entry, Youtube provided interesting footage to see all these phenomenons with my own eyes.

Listing them all in this article would lead us too far.

That's why I selected some of my favourite ones (each maximum 5 minutes long).

Sit back and enjoy!

 

When you hear the name 'Death Valley' you don't immediately think about flowers.

But have you ever heard of the phenomenon 'superbloom'?

Here's what it's all about:

The murmurations of starlings are real pieces of art.

You can see some beautiful examples here. 

And here's the explanation of this phenomenon:

Although the book mentions 'bluebells' in the UK, there's a very famous place in Belgium where these flowers grow too: Hallerbos.

People from all over the world come to see this magical scene:

Have you ever seen the elegant courtship dance of Japanese cranes?

I totally love rainbows!

So it's rather strange that I never heard of moonbows before.

You can watch a nice movie about moonbows at Yosemite National Park here. 

And here's some more info about this phenomenon:

A synchronous firefly light show in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park seems amazing.

If you want to know what this event looks like, you can see a slightly longer movie here. 

And here's a shorter one with the main info:

We all know the World Wide Web.

But have you ever heard of the Wood Wide Web?

I could gaze endlessly at stars and I love the sound of the sea.

The following phenomenon is an original combination of these two things.

Have you ever heard of the sea of stars at Vaadhoo Island (Maldives)?

Crabs aren't my favourite animals, but the following movie was really fun to watch.

Did you know hermit crabs have a very strange and particular way to trade shells?

The book mentions a hare which turns white in winter.

But when I looked this up, I found out there are actually several animals who do this trick every year.

An overview:

 

How can the Namibian beetle help us to solve our water crisis?

Found out in the following movie:

The book mentions the interesting Vogelkop bower bird who lives in New Guinea.

Look how they try to seduce females using colorful findings:

As the name Vogelkop intrigued me, I looked further into the birds of this region.

Look at these beautiful species of Vogelkop birds of paradise:

And speaking of birds of paradise …

Have you ever seen the funky dance moves of the six-plumed bird of paradise?

Absolutely amazing!

And hilarious 😄

These last two entries weren't mentioned in the book, but while surfing on Youtube I discovered them and just hád to share them with you. 

Have a fun week!