Forest Has a Song (2013)

 Forest Has a Song by Amy Ludwig Vanderwater is a collection of 26 poems that describe a young girl's experience walking in a forest. The poems have only a few challenging vocabulary words. The poems often flow in an easy rhythm. Most stanzas appear in lines from one to five words long. Robbin Gourley’s bright colorful illustrations show plant, animal, and bird life in all four seasons. This book reminds us that forests can be places to connect with nature.   

 In my opinion, the title of this book combined with the cover art asks readers to explore the earth’s woodlands. The title of the first poem is “Invitation”; a forest breeze and waving trees signal, “I'm here. Come visit. Please?” We find song in the forest, song made up of natural languages that Vanderwater helps us appreciate in lyrical verse. The last lines of the book are “I am Forest. Remember I am here.”

Warning: In the poem “Wintergreen”, Child tastes a wintergreen plant. It may be important to tell readers never to eat plants without the permission of a knowledgeable adult.

This book is read aloud online by Wednesday with Wendy.

My Picture Book Talk lesson for this book is here.