In My Backyard

by Margriet Ruurs, Ron Broda (Illustrator)

From the singing of little wrens in spring to paper wasps building their nests in summer; from baby bats drinking mother’s milk in fall to baby possums climbing into mother’s pouch in winter, In My Backyard celebrates nature and backyard animals through the seasons. Wildlife artist Ron Broda’s detailed paper-sculpture art beautifully complements Margriet Ruurs’ lyrical text, and young readers will discover a captivating variety of animals and insects.

Find the ladybug in each illustration, along with a hidden animal, which becomes featured on the next page. A detailed legend and helpful hints on how to turn your own backyard into an inviting place for animals to live make this book a must-have for wildlife and nature lovers alike.

Genres: Nature, Picture Books, Animals

32 pages, Hardcover

First published March 13, 2007

About the author

Margriet Ruurs is the author of more than 40 children's books, many of them award winners.
Margriet lives on Salt Spring Island where she runs BETWEEN THE COVERS, a booklovers' B & B (see: http://www.betweenthecoversbandb.com/)
She writes regular book reviews of YA and picturebooks here: http://margrietruurs.blogspot.ca/

Margriet visits schools around the world to conduct dynamic author presentations, slideshows of the writing process and poetry writing workshops for students and teachers. She also speaks at many literary conferences each year.
Margriet has a Master of Education degree from Simon Fraser University.

She also conducts school talks via Skype.

For more details visit her website and blog: www.margrietruurs.com
Join her Facebook Fan page here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Margrie...

Reviews

[Annie Payne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations!

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely interesting mixed media illustrations. About a child noticing wildlife and change of season in their backyard. Would be great in a classroom to go along with science curriculum.

[Xavier Edward · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was abbot spring and the different animals like snakes slithering in the grass :) its drawing was good!

[TriCedratops · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning diorama style paper art illustrations

[KaitandMaddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The illustrations were interesting and there was a good selection of animals.

[Wilson Goss · Rating 5 out of 5]

In My Backyard is a beautiful book that, as a kindergarten teacher, stokes my imagination. I see this as being a great book for the beginning of a unit like the one we are going to do later in the year on Living/Nonliving things. All of the animals (insects, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, birds) are common backyard animals, and the book takes place in a backyard. These are all animals we often overlook and the book emphasizes the beauty in the mundane. The book reveals to us little interesting tidbits about the animal which pique our curiosity to know more. Thankfully, the book has a legend in the back with a brief paragraph of informative text on each animal. This book would lead well into a careful examination of life in the nature of the playground or one's backyard and is rich with information for an exploration into the world of wonder around us. Furthermore, the illustrations are all done made out of paper sculpture and I instantly think of an art project using paper sculpture or origami or something of the like to go with the book and the science unit.

[KimBear · Rating 5 out of 5]

"From the singing of little wrens in spring to paper wasps building their nests in summer; from baby bats drinking mother’s milk in fall to baby possums climbing into mother’s pouch in winter, In My Backyard celebrates nature and backyard animals through the seasons. Wildlife artist Ron Broda’s detailed paper-sculpture art beautifully complements Margriet Ruurs’ lyrical text, and young readers will discover a captivating variety of animals and insects.

Find the ladybug in each illustration, along with a hidden animal, which becomes featured on the next page. A detailed legend and helpful hints on how to turn your own backyard into an inviting place for animals to live make this book a must-have for wildlife and nature lovers alike."

This book is one you can delve into again and again and find something new every time.

[Oana Cerchezan · Rating 3 out of 5]

In my backyard is a good scientific books that teach kindergarten children about the animals and insects that surround them. A good experiment to do would be to choose an animal from the book and let the children explore that animal that they chose. A good example is a butterfly. I can bring in a caterpillar and over the weeks show the transformation daily. I can engage the students by asking them to tell me any differences that they see each day.

[Emerson and Theodore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unique. A book about garden items: flowers, plants and birds, etc. Instead of drawings or photos, the artist uses paper cut outs.