Nonfiction Monday: Nature's Paintbox

Nature's Paintbox: A Seasonal Gallery of Art and Verse

Written by Patricia Thomas

Illustrated by Craig Orback

32-page picture book

Millbrook Press, 2007

An art book…check. A poetry collection…check. An introduction to the beauty and majesty of nature and its four seasons… check. Readers will find all of the above in this beautifully written and illustrated book.

How would you describe each of the four seasons? Poet, Patricia Thomas, imagines the world and each of its seasons in a different art medium. Winter is imagined in pen and ink with just a dash of color here and there. Spring brings pastel chalks. Watercolors celebrate summer. Oils bring fall to life. Thomas’ words could stand on their own with vivid images depicted like this one introducing us to spring:

And then…
Nature draws
SPRING
in pastel chalk,
dotting crocuses along a walk;
forsythia against a wall…
drawing them all in
warm-as-sunshine colors;
gentle baby colors;
blurry, furry,
baby-chick, baby-duck colors…
fresh-green-fuzzy, baby leaf,
baby-fern colors…

Yet, to top off each of these perfect-for-spring words, Craig Orback delivers his own perfect-for-spring illustrations in chalk pastels. He renders each of the other seasons and their individual mediums expertly, as well.

Patricia Thomas has been writing children’s books for many years. Her poetry ranges in style from nonsense verse to evocative poetry. She is a member of SCBWI and an instructor for the Children’s Institute of Literature. When giving school presentations, she likes to lead children into the discovery of reading and the adventure of books. Illustrator Craig Orback lives in Seattle and has illustrated 13 books for children, including Paul Bunyon and Washington is Burning. He likes to use a variety of mediums, including oil on canvas, acrylic, watercolor, pastel, pen and ink, and the computer. When creating the pictures for Nature’s Paintbox, he used all them!

This book was reviewed by Kim Hutmacher. The bio was written by Laura Crawford.

This post is part of the Nonfiction Monday Round-Up posted at the ACPL Mock Sibert Blog.