Nature Is an Artist

When seeking artistic inspiration—in terms of both medium and subject matter—this picture book’s creators suggest that readers look no further than Nature itself: “We can all be artists./ Nature shows us how./ So many styles to choose from—/ let’s get started now.” Paired with Lavallee’s cheery rhyming prose, Colombo’s exuberant multitextured art imagines Nature as a green, slightly bushy biomorphic artist with a benevolent facial expression. As Nature works on the world’s varied landscapes—painting, sculpting, and etching—doll-like human children with arrayed skin tones happily tag along to learn, translating what they see via their own materials. When Nature paints “hills against the sunrise/ gold and rose and green,” the kids finger-paint “thumb-print bees/ and shaggy trees”; when Nature scatters leaves on the ground, they approximate the effect with collage. It’s a sweet-natured tribute to both classroom-scaled creativity and the grandeur of the outdoors. Ages 3–8. (May)