Naturalist Who Made a Difference to Our Planet-His Story in Gorgeous Picture Book

We will celebrate Earth Day on April 22 and saving our planet has become a major discussion among scientists and naturalists in the time we are living in. Climate change, the destruction of habitats for animals of the wild, and overbuilding are all activities that are harming our planet. Pollution of the oceans, air, and our forests all contribute to the destruction of our planet. Caldecott Honorees Hayley and John Rocco's gorgeous biography Wild Places of notable naturalist David Attenborough is a good choice to introduce young readers to the idea that we must be aware of all the ways that our earth is being harmed and things we can do to help save our beautiful earth.

David Attenborough learned to appreciate nature as a young boy. He enjoyed collecting rocks, fossils, and the newts around his home in England. He traveled the world as an adult and made documentaries to highlight the wild animals all over the world. As time passed, he noticed that the habitats of the wild animals in our world were becoming smaller. Overbuilding, destroying the forests by cutting down trees, and pollution of our oceans were destroying habitats. Attenborough made it his new life's work to educate people in what we could do to stop harming the habitats so that our wildlife would be preserved.

The illustrations for Wild Places is extraordinary and engaging. Wild Places is recommended for ages 5-11. The authors include an interesting final section entitled Rewilding Our Planet with ideas for taking action to save the habitats. They provide a list of problems and solutions for saving the earth's habitats for our precious wild animals.

Wild Places was published by G. P. Putnam's Sons, a division of Penguin/Random House. It has an ISBN of 978-0-593-61809-7.

Teachers will be celebrating Earth Day this year on April 22 with their students. Picture books and stories of people who have influenced practices in helping our planet are excellent resources to celebrate Earth Day and honor our beautiful earth. Wild Places is one that teachers will want to add to their classroom library. It is a well-written and easy to read biography of notable naturalist David Attenborough. Biographies for young readers are sometimes hard to find and this one is a special one for ages 5-11.

*Read Wild Places in a story time session. Have a globe available for students to locate the wild habitats that Attenborough explored during his life work.

*Call attention to the illustration that features all of the wild animals that inhabit the wild habitats of our earth. Add additional resources to learn about the animals.

*Add additional activities to learn about the variety of habitats that animals are found in. Attenborough traveled to Africa and Antarctica as two examples of the contrast in habitats around the world.

*Engage children in a discussion of the events such as storms, flooding, and wildfires that are destroying habitats. Assign a project for students to find newspaper articles about these events around the world.

*Call attention to the illustration that features wind power and solar power. Are these present in your community?

*Use the resources from the Bibliography that is included in the book for additional learning materials for your curriculum.

*Engage children in a discussion of the problems/solutions that the authors included.