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Wake Up, Woods
Early in the year, our North American forests come to life as native wildflowers start to push up through patches of snow. With longer days and sunlight streaming down through bare branches of towering trees, life on the forest floor awakens from its winter sleep. Plants such as green dragon, squirrel corn, and bloodroot interact with their pollinators and seed dispersers and rush to create new life before the trees above leaf out and block the sun s rays.
Wake Up, Woods showcases the splendor of our warming forests and offers clues to nature's annual springtime floral show as we walk in our parks and wilderness areas, or even in shade gardens around our homes.
Readers of Wake Up, Woods will see that Gillian Harris, Michael Homoya and Shane Gibson, through illustrations and text, present a captivating look into our forests biodiversity, showing how species depend on plants for food and help assure plant reproduction. This book celebrates some of nature s most fascinating moments that happen in forests where we live and play.
Wake Up, Woods showcases the splendor of our warming forests and offers clues to nature's annual springtime floral show as we walk in our parks and wilderness areas, or even in shade gardens around our homes.
Readers of Wake Up, Woods will see that Gillian Harris, Michael Homoya and Shane Gibson, through illustrations and text, present a captivating look into our forests biodiversity, showing how species depend on plants for food and help assure plant reproduction. This book celebrates some of nature s most fascinating moments that happen in forests where we live and play.
36 pages, Hardcover
Published October 1, 2019
2 people are currently reading
69 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
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November 16, 2020This is a must for any Indiana naturalist's children's bookshelf. With short, whimsical verse and longer more detailed nonfiction passages and delicately drawn illustrations, this book presents some of the early spring plants you may see walking through the woods. I would love to see more volumes highlighting plants from different times of year.
January 20, 2020
sweet book, love the illustrations. Baby gift for each of my daughters for their first baby.
October 3, 2019
I am a plant lover and our family does a lot of outdoorsy things - hiking, camping, bike rides. This book is great for our family for a few reasons:
1.) The illustrations are gorgeous, colorful, and larger than life and there is a little four line rhyming poem that goes along with each page. So for my 3-year old son, we can look at the pictures and point out all the bees, pretty butterflies, and gnarly caterpillars on each page and read the verse and it gets him interested in flowers and bug and nature in general. He is too young for the scientific text that accompanies each page.
2.) My almost 7 year old daughter loves to read and she is old enough to read the paragraph of facts that are on each page. The text is written in a mature way where kids actually learn about pollination and plant reproduction and woodland habitats but it's not too much so that it reads like a textbook.
3.) There are 16 plants featured throughout the book and many of them are plants that we will be able to go out and find in a woodsy park near our house in the spring. (In fact, violets are one of the plants featured so we will be able to find that one in our suburban backyard!) So it will be great for us to take along with us on a hike (or read before our hike) and go out on a Plant Hunt to find them! It's so cool when kids can connect something that is in a book and educational like this and see it in the real world.
4.) The pictures are just wonderful. The illustrator is a botanical artist who has shown everything exactly as it is in real life, but the watercolor pictures are also just pleasing to the eye. It makes you wonder how you could have walked past all these beautiful flowers in the forest without noticing them properly before.
5.) Finally, the message of the importance of biodiversity is clear but understated. A theme so important for kids today to understand. The book demonstrates this without ever having to say it and be "preachy."
I would love to see a volume 2 that highlights summer blooms!
1.) The illustrations are gorgeous, colorful, and larger than life and there is a little four line rhyming poem that goes along with each page. So for my 3-year old son, we can look at the pictures and point out all the bees, pretty butterflies, and gnarly caterpillars on each page and read the verse and it gets him interested in flowers and bug and nature in general. He is too young for the scientific text that accompanies each page.
2.) My almost 7 year old daughter loves to read and she is old enough to read the paragraph of facts that are on each page. The text is written in a mature way where kids actually learn about pollination and plant reproduction and woodland habitats but it's not too much so that it reads like a textbook.
3.) There are 16 plants featured throughout the book and many of them are plants that we will be able to go out and find in a woodsy park near our house in the spring. (In fact, violets are one of the plants featured so we will be able to find that one in our suburban backyard!) So it will be great for us to take along with us on a hike (or read before our hike) and go out on a Plant Hunt to find them! It's so cool when kids can connect something that is in a book and educational like this and see it in the real world.
4.) The pictures are just wonderful. The illustrator is a botanical artist who has shown everything exactly as it is in real life, but the watercolor pictures are also just pleasing to the eye. It makes you wonder how you could have walked past all these beautiful flowers in the forest without noticing them properly before.
5.) Finally, the message of the importance of biodiversity is clear but understated. A theme so important for kids today to understand. The book demonstrates this without ever having to say it and be "preachy."
I would love to see a volume 2 that highlights summer blooms!
March 6, 2021
This is a pretty good children’s book, although just as interesting for adults as it is for children.
It is mostly about flowers that bloom in the woods in the springtime. There is also a fern, some later blooming flowers, and lots of info about animals, mostly insects, that are associated with the plants. Each page spread describes a different plant.
There are no cartoon characters or even simplified illustrations. They are all true to life and very well done. The mouse on the cover looks like a mouse, not a Mickey Mouse. Do kids really think that mice look like Mickey?
Each page spread has a poem. This is a cute idea that adds one more element to the pages.
The writing is short and sweet and for older kids. There is no holding back on big long words; proboscis, gametophyte, elaiosome, etc. Each plant and animal name also includes the scientific name. This book treats children seriously and I learned some things from it. It describes and shows various insects and other animals that utilize the plants and makes you want to go out and look for them.
This book will really make kids and adults want to go out and study these plants and other things in nature more closely. The flowers are pretty, but their lives are also very interesting.
I recommend this book to any parent. You can read the book with them and then go out and look for the plants. The book is too big and nice to take out in the field, but I would take it anyway as a reference guide.
This book only covers a few plants that grow in woodlands in the spring but I could see it turn into a series about plants in other habitats and times of year.
It is mostly about flowers that bloom in the woods in the springtime. There is also a fern, some later blooming flowers, and lots of info about animals, mostly insects, that are associated with the plants. Each page spread describes a different plant.
There are no cartoon characters or even simplified illustrations. They are all true to life and very well done. The mouse on the cover looks like a mouse, not a Mickey Mouse. Do kids really think that mice look like Mickey?
Each page spread has a poem. This is a cute idea that adds one more element to the pages.
The writing is short and sweet and for older kids. There is no holding back on big long words; proboscis, gametophyte, elaiosome, etc. Each plant and animal name also includes the scientific name. This book treats children seriously and I learned some things from it. It describes and shows various insects and other animals that utilize the plants and makes you want to go out and look for them.
This book will really make kids and adults want to go out and study these plants and other things in nature more closely. The flowers are pretty, but their lives are also very interesting.
I recommend this book to any parent. You can read the book with them and then go out and look for the plants. The book is too big and nice to take out in the field, but I would take it anyway as a reference guide.
This book only covers a few plants that grow in woodlands in the spring but I could see it turn into a series about plants in other habitats and times of year.
June 27, 2020
Such a fun and engaging book for the entire family, written by an all-star cast!
*True-to-life illustrations of the plants and the miniature wildlife that are attracted to them.
*Fun, engaging poems to help you remember interesting things about each of the plants.
*Scientific facts to learn more about the interactions between the small animals and plants.
Take it on a hike to help your kids identify native plants, or read it with them and be amazed about the interactions between insects, amphibians, mammals and plants. Focus is on plants native to eastern deciduous forests.
*True-to-life illustrations of the plants and the miniature wildlife that are attracted to them.
*Fun, engaging poems to help you remember interesting things about each of the plants.
*Scientific facts to learn more about the interactions between the small animals and plants.
Take it on a hike to help your kids identify native plants, or read it with them and be amazed about the interactions between insects, amphibians, mammals and plants. Focus is on plants native to eastern deciduous forests.
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June 29, 2020On the beautiful front cover of this book, a mouse sniffs along the edge, a caterpillar munches on a leaf, and a bee gathers pollen from a flower. Another flower remains closed, but you can almost see it begin to unfold its petals and open to the sun. Everything about the image—mouse, leaves, flowers, caterpillar and bee—invite the reader to open the book and look inside, much as the woods invite us to step outside on a warm spring day...
Read our full review by Helen Frost here: https://www.indianaauthorsawards.org/...
Read our full review by Helen Frost here: https://www.indianaauthorsawards.org/...
November 28, 2020
Wish every area had this kind of book for its natural ecosystems. Beautiful illustrations with great descriptions. I'm glad they also included some of the animals related to the featured plants. Many different ages can enjoy facets of this book.
September 16, 2019
My only regret is that there aren't more featured species. The illustrations are stunning and the short descriptions are well done. Maybe volume II will be in the works soon!
October 3, 2019
Beautifully illustrated and full of information about our flora and fauna. My 7 year old granddaughter loves it!
September 24, 2021
Give this book to every kid that likes the outdoors in Indiana!
October 14, 2021
This book is a thin book focusing on some flowers that grow in the spring in the eastern US.
The pictures are well drawn.
The text would be complex for a younger child of say 5-8, but may be more interesting to an older child.
This book might be most interesting to someone living in the area where these flowers and insects live.
The book title is deceiving in that it really isn’t about the woods waking up in the spring. Just about these certain flowers.
The pictures are well drawn.
The text would be complex for a younger child of say 5-8, but may be more interesting to an older child.
This book might be most interesting to someone living in the area where these flowers and insects live.
The book title is deceiving in that it really isn’t about the woods waking up in the spring. Just about these certain flowers.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews