Counting Down to Earth Day: Day 2

Outside Your Window

A First Book of Nature

By Nicola Davies

Illustrated by Mark Hearld

Candlewick, 2012

$19.99, ages 3 and up, 108 pages

A world of wonder is unfolding outside -- all through the windows of this enchanting book.

Each spread of this big-format nature book shows what a child might see, looking out of their window into the natural world:

From "a hundred fluffy parachutes" about to take flight off a dandelion to a squirrel scampering from trunk to fence with a fidgety gate and air of alertness.

Zoologist and award-winning author Nicola Davies muses about the natural world in short, playful poems, while artist Mark Hearld plays out what she describes in enchanting collages.

Hearld, who makes his debut in picture books with this gem, impresses with a voluminous display of art and creatively layered details. His collages are organic, absorbing and rich as earth.

Otto the Book Bear

Written & illustrated by Katie Cleminson

Disney-Hyperion, 2012

$16.99, ages 3-7, 32 pages

Suppose a bear from a book got separated from his story and began exploring city streets for a place to belong. Would he ever find a story to be part of again?

In this gentle, imaginative picture book by the author-illustrator of Magic Box, a character named Otto wanders off the pages of his book to explore his child's house, but when he returns the child's family has packed up and moved. Now, he must brave the real world for companionship, only the real world is vastly bigger than the setting of his book.

Otto, an easy-going brown bear with charming saggy skin, never saw the moving trucks coming. Slipping out of his book was something he'd done time and again. But of course no one knew Otto could do such things, not even his child, so no one in the family thought to look for him before they left.

Each day when Otto went to explore, he'd heave himself up stairs that stood before him like terraces on a mountain. Though a big, strapping bear on the page, he was just a tiny bear in the real world, shorter than the height of a page. He'd open his favorite books with maps inside and sit on the pages as he read them. He'd even sit on the space bar of an old typewriter and push his weight on keys to journal what he saw.

But one day when he was done exploring, he turned around to find nothing left in the house but a few packed up boxes. As he stood on a window sill, he watched a moving truck pull away with everything else, including the book where he was once a part of a story. He couldn't imagine being without his story; nothing made him happier than to have children read about his adventures. What was he to do?

Holiday Gift Guide: Day 2

If you play with a book, is it also a toy?

Suppose a book could be a little of both, something to read and something to do.

Now wouldn't that be grand!

For this holiday gift list, I've pulled together 23 books that look or feel like toys.

Some of them move about or pop up, or have soft things to pet.

Others invite readers to play: make up a story, color a page or build a Lego.

A couple are stories about toys who want a child to love.

Below are live links to the titles of each post. Click the link to go directly to a review or scroll down the page.

To see Day 1 of my Holiday Gift Guide, click here.