Celebrating Mother Nature

As a dedicated admirer of Mother Nature and her work, my daughter Flora and I are slowly curating a library of books themed around her and her beautiful creations. What follows is our Top 5 current recommendations. Enjoy!

words and photography by Hollie Evans

Little Guide to Birds / Little guide to Bugs. (Quadrille Books)

Tom Frost is a Print Maker from Falmouth Uni. These little guides are a super size for little hands or picnic basket adventures and are not bombarded by words and information. They beautifully link folklore and magic to the Avian and creature kingdom and show why we’ve been fascinated with birds and creepy crawlies for centuries. There’s a little spotters guide at the back of both books which is the perfect reason to take them on your travels!

Darwin on the Origion of Species (Puffin Books)

Whimsically retold and illustrated by a Molecular Scientist turned Children’s Illustrator Sabina Radeva. Wow this lady is talented!!!! A beautiful blend of biology, beography, bhysics, history, art and storytelling! If you only choose one book from this list to read, this should be it as it covers everything a children’s book needs to be an ‘every single night of the weeker’.

A little guide to Wildflowers (The Eden Project but available online) by Charlotte Voake & Kate Petty

I’m biased to anything flower themed but I realise that an entire book of wildflowers could possibly seem dull to a little one, HOWEVER, by grouping the flowers by colour order and telling stories about each species, this botanically styled jotter teaches children the seasons, benefits of flowers, to us and animals and is just beautifully tailored to taking out on a summer day whilst hunt for species and ticking them off in the back. Just. BEAUTIFUL.

Sensational Butterflies (Ladybird Books) Ben Rothery

When I read that this was Ben’s FIRST book, I was excited for him, but when I actually had a flick through and studied Flora’s face as each page turned, my mind was BLOWN. It is MESMERISING and Ben’s talent for sketching is a wonder. The butterflies could possibly fly off the page and you can’t help but run your fingers over each drawing to check it’s not embossed or textured. Ladybird books generously printed it in large format, so for a child it’s even more remarkable as well as being factually full and a joy to read.

The Variety of Life & The wonder of Trees. (Nicola Davis & Lorna Scobie) Hodder Books

Crikey Moses these books the merriest we’ve seen in a while. Like Glastonbury for animals they’re loud, witty, boisterous, colourful, energetic and such FUN to flick through and savour every species. Lorna Scobie animates her illustrations so terrifically that even her leaves look to have fantastic personalities! Flora and I both adore them equally and again, being large format ,they’re like coffee table books for kids and just a joy to have in front of your eyes.