Dear Earth by Isabel Otter and Clara Anganuzzi, reviewed by Dawn Finch

First the blurb...
When Tessa writes a love letter to the Earth, it's the beginning of a glorious adventure. She blows bubbles with whales, soars with birds and joins in with the noisy rainforest hullabaloo! 
Tessa wants everyone to know how special our planet is. She believes that there is a chance to save the Earth if enough of us share the message.


There are a lot of books about the environment, and global issues like climate change and pollution. Some of good, but many are rather dreary and preachy and many still somehow fail to hit the mark. Dear Earth is a perfect example of how it can be done well.

Tessa and her Grandpa love to go walking together, and as they walk he tells her the most

Copyright Isabel Otter, Clara Anganuzzi and Little Tiger UK

amazing stories of his travels. He talks of when he was younger and was an adventurer and sailed the seas and explored the Earth. Tessa is captivated and dreams of her own adventures and decides to write a letter to the Earth to describe her dreams and what she will one day see on her own explorations.... if the Earth is safe long enough for her to grow up.

This elegantly simple (and never preachy) text from author Isabel Otter is charming and will make a lovely story to share and read aloud. The words are accompanied (and made magical) but the most extraordinarily beautiful illustrations from Clara Anganuzzi. Wonderful images of the creatures of the oceans and the air, the forests and the mountains, all the habitats of the Earth. The layout of the book is particularly lovely too as the reader turns the book around and about to achieve depth, and height while Tessa swims and soars with them. 

Copyright Isabel Otter, Clara Anganuzzi and Little Tiger UK

This book is one that you could comfortably give as a gift, or keep for yourself, and it will make a superb addition to the classroom bookshelf. It is a book about a difficult subject, but it feels uplifting and hopeful. It is a joyful book and definitely one that will be read again and again.


Dear Earth by Isabel Otter and Clara Anganuzzi is published by Caterpillar Books (an imprint of Little Tiger UK)
ISBN - 9781848579415




Dawn Finch is a children's author and librarian and current chair of the Children's Writer's and Illustrators Group committee (CWIG)
@dawnafinch
www.dawnfinch.com



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