Title: A Child’s View of a Prairie
Author: Susan C. McDermott
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 978-1-4343-6191-2
Genre: Educational Children’s Book / Nature
Pages: 48
Reviewed by: Beth Adams
Pacific Book Review
Author Susan C. McDermott has created an heirloom publication of two young brothers, Dave and Mike, as they wander through a prairie on a warm summer day exploring the fauna and insects. In her book A Child’s View of a Prairie, each page is adorned with original nature photography of the young boys intensely observing the many varied types of flowers, grasses, insects and even a hummingbird. Alongside the photos are the names of the plants plus some details about their characteristics.
As readers page through the scores of photos and descriptions, it is not long into the book when the minds of the readers are transported to the field of wildflowers; viewing the many beautiful plants with the innocent curiosity of young children. Having a sharp focus on the many photos enables readers to enjoy the beauty of Nature as they meander around the open field. Stopping to investigate certain places, such as a spider web strung between tall grass, enables readers even with arachnophobia to still enjoy the beauty of the sunlight glistening off the silken threads of the spiderweb – although I preferred the second of the two photographs with the spider in the center of its web; the first one of the web without a spider made me wonder, “Where’s the spider?” Fauna of the prairie is varied in shapes, color and texture, as well as being extremely robust with its ability to survive the harsh environment. Readers see the miraculous detail of the Purple Prairie Clover, looking like a bottle brush with details of never-ending complexity as you zoom in. The orange and yellow of the Turk’s-cap Lilly with its six pedals and brown spots are so intricate one has to wonder how this creation of Nature came into being, I really was astounded by the Spiderwort, looking like a small bouquet of flowers and learning that native Indians used to use this as a remedy for insect bites. After the boys stopped for lunch, they put on light jackets for their afternoon explorations, and in the end, as the sunlight was changing the exposure of the photos, the boys called it a day; and they couldn’t wait for the next time to do more exploring!
A Child’s View of a Prairie achieves exactly what its title suggests, enabling children to share in the adventure of roaming about a prairie on a nice sunny day. It is a fine way to stimulate the interest in Nature’s gifts of beautiful wildflowers while entertaining reading audieneces with a walk through a prairie field. The more often this book is paged, the more facts and names of the various plants will become familiar to readers. It will make an ideal addition to any family’s library.
