Our Gift-Filled Earth

PreS-Gr 1—Two-part lessons explain how nature gives the materials for everyday products. "What fills the vast blue ocean?…" A pleasant view of seagulls hovering over the waves and an appreciative description folds out to show a cast of young children going through the various steps of producing salt. The cheerful cartoon-style children visit a wide beach; rice, soybean, and cotton fields' "sticky wet earth" filled with animal tunnels; a pasture full of dairy cows; and a forest. Readers will find the fold-out pages and the simplistic explanations fun. "Add vinegar or lemon juice and salt in the hot milk then let it congeal (begin to become solid.)." Two featured products—tofu and rice cakes—will be familiar to some children and not recognized by others. The other goods—salt, glass, cloth, pottery, cheese, and paper—may be more commonly recognized. There are a few confusing bits in the explanations, but the overall scheme, the writing, and the art are well rendered. The final entry on paper is followed by an attractive concluding scene appreciative of books and reading. This in turn is followed by a final single page with a question likely to baffle the young audience. "All these are gifts that Nature has given. What gifts should we give to nature?"