Life

A spiritual yet not overtly religious epistle on hope and the many reasons to embrace life. It opens with the notion that “life begins small.” Wenzel shows a seedling surrounded by mountains. The next spread declares: “Even for the elephants. Then it grows.” A calf is seen looking up to the enormous adults in its herd. Several animals discuss what they love about life, and as the author acknowledges that “life is not always easy,” readers observe a bluebird flying through a storm. They are asked to remember that there is always “something to love…and to protect.” The narrative continues in…

Rylant (Creation) looks to the natural world for wisdom and consolation as Wenzel’s (They All Saw a Cat) lush, heavily worked artwork imagines a primordial Earth with few signs of human existence. “Life begins small,” Rylant opens; among bare hills, a lone plant sprouts from red earth. “Then it grows.” A fantastic gathering of wild animals and birds looks out at readers expectantly. “Ask any animal on earth, what do you love about life?” Each animal has its own answer (“The hawk will say sky”), and its distinctive nature and perception determine the way it sees the world, just as ours do.…

Veteran author Rylant tackles a subject both as tiny as a leaf and as huge as the cosmos, as various animals are born and work their way through the beautiful, though sometimes scary, world. Most heartening here is the message that when things seem tough, there is always something to love, something to protect, and a reason to arise each morning, if only to find out what happens next. Rylant’s poetic text is as spare as Wenzel’s artwork is effusive. Occasionally, his nature scenes bring to mind the work of Henri Rousseau, but there is also humor, courtesy of the animals’ faces. Both text and…

Readers are invited to reflect on life with the help of animals.Addressing readers directly, the narrator opens with a modest statement: "Life begins small." See an elephant grow bigger as it walks underneath the fierce sun and gentle moon, through days and nights. Life, it seems, also promises change—and wonders. A hawk soars in the sky, while elsewhere, a camel stands tall in a desert. Sitting on a rock, a turtle relishes the "rain on its back." Each glimpse of an animal in the natural world elicits a small jolt of joy thanks in part to Caldecott honoree Wenzel's exquisite illustrations…