Our Big Home

April 3, 2000
Glaser's (Compost!) joyous appreciation of the interconnectedness of all living things forms the heart of this celebratory picture book; Kleven's (City of Angels; Abuela) brilliant, busy art gives it its soul. In lyrical free verse stanzas, the author exalts the life-giving rain, sun, soil and air that enable numberless plants, animals and "you and me" to inhabit a most amazing planet. Her exhilaration inspires a message of ecological respect without ever mentioning it directly. The text would be merely sweet on its own, but Kleven's kinetic mixed-media compositions, pulsing with flurries of color and light, swirl and flow as they accentuate the poem's happy rhythms. She creates a vibrant tapestry of people and nature in many settings: a city park, backyards, gardens, a sunset in the Middle East and a nighttime African savanna. This title is a good addition to the Earth Day picture-book canon, but it also stands apart as a sunny look at the wonders of the natural world. Ages 5-9.