A boy explores his urban forest, then interprets it through his art. With art supplies in tow, a young boy meanders through the forest near his home. A keen observer, the boy sees his forest as both fluffy and prickly, and as both crispy and soft. It’s also scattered and soggy, and spotted and foggy. His forest is made up of many colours - but he decides that mostly it’s green. Each aspect of the forest inspires a different kind of art: charcoal rubbing, rock art, photography, sponge painting, snow sculpture, cut-paper collage. With every new day in the forest, there’s a new way to capture it!Such a delightful nature companion is sure to awaken the artist in every child. With art supplies in tow, a young boy explores the urban forest near his home, then interprets what he sees with his art. The boy is a keen observer who uses poetic, rhythmic language to describe the diversity he finds through all four seasons. His forest is both fluffy and prickly,
dense and sparse,
crispy and soft. It’s also scattered and soggy, and spotted and foggy. His forest is made up of many colours - but he decides that mostly it’s green. Each aspect of the forest inspires the boy to create a different kind of art: charcoal rubbing, rock art, photography, sponge painting, snow sculpture, cut-paper collage. To this artist, there’s always something new to discover, and to capture! In this delightful picture book, Darren Lebeuf, an award-winning photographer, encourages small children to look closer at and appreciate the nature that surrounds them. And by providing such a broad range of ideas for artistic expression, it’s sure to awaken the nature artist in every child. Bright, deeply textured illustrations by Ashley Barron bring the forest and the boy’s artworks to vivid life. This story provides an excellent depiction of nature-based education in an outdoor classroom. The specificity of the concrete and abstract adjectives used in the text works as a perfect complement to primary science lessons on investigating, comparing and identifying the physical characteristics of plants and animals. This book also makes for an enjoyable, lyrical read-aloud. AGES: 1 to 4 AUTHOR: Darren Lebeuf is an award-winning photographer based in Vancouver, British Columbia, with a background in design and visual communication. Darren has done numerous illustration projects for schools and charity organisations and also teaches illustration courses. He is also the author of My Forest Is Green, My Ocean Is Blue and My City Speaks. Ashley Barron has illustrated several picture books, including My Forest Is Green, My Ocean Is Blue and Birthdays Around the World. She enjoys teaching art classes and presenting her books to libraries and schools. She lives in Toronto, Ontario, with her partner and their three cats.