Forest Magic: A Guidebook for Little Woodland Explorers

by Sarah Grindler

A beautifully illustrated, compact, interactive nature guide to exploring the forest for young readers.

What do you notice when you walk in the forest? Different types of trees, plants, and mushrooms? Maybe you hear a squirrel chattering or birds singing. Can you feel all the different kinds of moss? And look there! Hidden animal homes and interesting bugs.

With this compact non-fiction guide, young readers will be equipped to seek out, identify, and appreciate the woodland magic that exists all around them. Featuring rich vocabulary words like "nurse log," "lichen," and "sapling," this beautifully illustrated book is the ideal companion for little forest explorers. Incorporating all five senses and encouraging imaginative play, it even includes pixies and fairies (pixie cup lichen and fairy slipper wildflowers)! Forest Magic will be the book you reach for on the way out the door to explore your own backyard.

There's so much to see in a forest. What will you discover?

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Picture Books, Childrens, Animals

32 pages, Hardcover

First published May 31, 2021

About the author

Sarah Grindler grew up on Salt Spring Island, BC, where she spent most of her childhood on the beach and in the water. Inspired by her artistic family and beautiful surroundings, she followed her passion for art and nature into a career of creating picture books.

Reviews

[Natalie all_books_great_and_small · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

Forest Magic is a beautifully illustrated children's guide book to exploring nature, woodlands and forest areas around them.
This book had a very calming effect and was beautifully set out.
The book introduces some of the basics a child can expect to find in almost any of these types of environment such as owls, mushrooms, leaves, trees, flowers, insects.
I lived how the book featured a page with things that are safe to touch and things that are not safe to touch too.
This is a great book to get children interested in nature from a young age.

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lovely children's book that teaches about the forest. Beautiful illustrations and just the right amount of text to keep little ones engaged. End notes give a little more info.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.

[Karin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations, poses lots of great questions and encourages conversation as you read, and has tips on what to touch and not touch in the forest. What's not to love?!

[Stacy Renee (LazyDayLit) · Rating 5 out of 5]

We received an ecopy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.


Forest Magic is a beautifully illustrated picture book guide to discovering nature and its many little surprises.

This picture book is not only a gorgeous book to look at; it's perfect for taking right out into the world as a guidebook!
You can learn to identify trees from their leaves, which birds and animals make the forest their home, different types of wildflowers and fungi and lichens, and how these things all play a part in a balanced ecosystem.

It's a fantastic introduction to nature with lots of identification labels for tree leaves, animals, wildflowers, fungi, and lichen! We especially loved the fungi pages, as we so rarely come across mushroom identification in picture books and have been on the lookout for some! The mushrooms are accurately illustrated, as is everything in this book! There's even a 'Do Not Touch' page that shares which animals, plants, and fungi to avoid!

Perfect for outdoor storytime and/or wildschooling!


This review was originally shared on Lazy Day Literature.

[Theediscerning · Rating 4 out of 5]

A perfectly pleasant primer for early forest explorers. The art is great – both able to convey the wonderful sylvan paradise and give all the scientific detail of the diagrams. We cover only a few topics and only very lightly, but it's a book that encourages us to learn more from nature, whether it be lichens, or what we smell and hear in the woodlands we can wander in. No, it won't be a book that means much to everyone, for not all youngsters can follow in the creator's footsteps and witness this for themselves, but those that have that chance will find it most appealing to do so after these pages. Four and a half stars.

[Sirah · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was a child, my mother always encouraged me to go outside and explore. We would find flowers, leaves, sticks and rocks and look them up to discover their names, lore and scientific properties. These are memories that I treasure and I'm delighted to be able to share just a bit of that magic when I read this book to kids. My one complaint is that this book runs a little on the long side, but it's so hard to condense all that glory into a few pages. I particularly liked the "safe to touch" and "do not touch" pages that remind kids to be respectful of nature and to explore knowledgeably. I learned something new on a few of these pages and was enchanted by the lovely artwork. A definite must-read for the classroom before a nature hike!

[Digitally Lit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alicia-
Alicia's Review and Thoughts

The book takes you on a little adventure through a magical forest, and you get to meet cute little forest creatures, and get fun facts about them and other plants and fungi
I thought the book was pretty wholesome and I very much enjoyed the art in the book. I rate this book 5/5 star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Keep reading for my little brother's review!!!

(Little Brother's Review and Thoughts) (Age 7.5)
“I really enjoyed the drawings.
I've seen some of the plants and things in my own backyard. I really liked the mushrooms.”

Q: (What, out of all of the animals in this book, would you be?)
A: "The Rough Skinned Newt”

Q: (If you had to live as a rough skinned newt what do you think life would be like?)
A: "Weird because you'd be tiny, it would be a much bigger world. Especially with bugs."

Q: (Was there anything you learned or were surprised by?)
A: "Not to touch the rough skinned newt."

What do you rate this book?
“A 5/5 star ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐”

[MookNana · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful book! This offers so much rich detail for forest exploration, including questions, activity prompts, and identification guides.

The illustrations are lovely and very detailed. They really capture the wonder and magic of nature!

This would be a great independent or one-on-one read with a caregiver, but even better as a take-along book for an excursion into a local forest preserve or natural area.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely illustrations identifying different creatures and plants of the forest. I liked how every couple of pages the author included a question to guide discussion with kids about how saplings grow, about different types of flowers or animals, and on what's safe to touch or not safe to touch in the forest. A cute book for kids about learning about the forest (note: perhaps a bit TOO much detail for some littles, but lots of pictures to point to and identify things!).

[Novel Obsession]

Sarah Grindler has created a lovely guidebook for the youngest explorers with her book, Forest Magic. The book helps young naturalists to seek out, identify, and appreciate the many wonders found within a woodland setting. With appreciated vocabulary usage, the book will help inspire young scientists while helping families to explore the natural world around them.

Disclaimer: An advance copy was provided by the publisher.

[Jared White · Rating 4 out of 5]

A truly beautifully illustrated book that introduces readers to the magic and wonder of the forest. From nurse logs to critters, to mushrooms and moss. I also like that at the end of the book it has a page of things "Safe to touch" (wooly bear caterpillar, a few plants and lichen, a feather) and "Do NOT touch!" (poison ivy, bird's nest, toadstool, baneberry, and rough-skinned newt).

[April Oharah Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated informational book about all things that live in the forest. Gives you a page of things that are safe to touch and a page of things that are not. Educational and fun with interactive activities.

[Emilee (emileereadsbooks) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and Nimbus Publishing Limited for a free digital copy.

A lovely picture book teaching children about plants and animals and the rhythms of a forest. The illustrations are very transporting and the facts interesting.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent books for young explorers!

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully illustrated and informative children's book about life in the forest! It did not hold my kids' interest as long as I had hoped, but it was still a great book.

[Clare Gilmore · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a nice book about nature. Beautiful illustrations and a simple story makes this a nice addition to a nature based curriculum. I look forward to using this book with my class in the future.

[Alexandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

great book for kids to show what lives and goes on in a forest. How important it can be. nice illustrations

[Jbondandrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely little book.

[Ashley | reading.steminist · Rating 5 out of 5]

The illustrations in this are beautiful!! It was also super informative about what life is like in a forest and I think my son would love it. It was also written in a very accessible way for younger children. Would definitely purchase this for my child's bookshelf!