Nature is an Artist
Jennifer Lavallee and Natalia Colombo
Greystone Kids

Nature has many awesome qualities not least of which is its incomparable artistry – its beauty and its incredible variety: that is what this book explores and celebrates.

There is complete harmony between author Jennifer Lavallee’s rhyming text and Natalia Colombo’s striking illustrations of nature – both its manifestations and the green being that leads a group of five children on an exploratory journey through various beautiful natural landscapes showing them the sunrise over some hills; a field alive with buzzing bees and daisies growing in abundance around the trees; the rich colours of summer flowers in full bloom as they begin to scatter the petals. 

Next, resting on a rock at the water’s edge, nature shows itself as sculptor extraordinaire, carving and moulding rocks and clay. Then hidden deep beneath the ground lies evidence of nature’s etchings – those fossil impressions making patterns we all so love to find; 

while with rain and sun together, high up in the sky, nature creates a rainbow: a kaleidoscope of gorgeous colours, a prism up above.

As the children witness each stunning landscape one of their number with nature now as teacher/mentor is inspired to recreate what they’ve seen in art of their own making: one by finger painting, another making a colour paper collage, one sculpts towers in sand; fossil etchings are done by stamping various shapes on a large sheet 

and a rainbow is formed from torn tissue paper pasted on a glass jar and a lighted tealight within to provide the glow.

Whether used in a classroom or at home, those with whom this book is shared should not only develop a deeper appreciation of the natural world but also be motivated to try some of the art techniques the book includes.