Often wonder is composed of questions — questions not meant to be answered but rather to evoke an awestruck response in the heart. This poetic book offers just this kind of question, accompanied by the beautiful illustrations of Helen Cann, whose work has appeared in exhibitions around the world.
Two girls travel through the seasons together, from the tail end of winter until its return. Most often we see the two on or near their bikes, which lean against their tents as the girls sit on blankets under a starry summer sky:
"Can you follow the trail of a bright shooting star?
Do you know how a grasshopper strums his guitar?
"Have you looked at the world through a dragonfly's wings?
Or been in the front row when a nightingale sings?"
With word choices like these, it's hard to believe that Julia Key is a first-time children's book author. Her lifelong love of language shines through, as does her passion for helping children discover, respect, and protect the natural world.
This book is for four-to-eight-year-old readers and for anyone who has kept childlike inquiry alive in their heart. In a title-page quote, Rabbi Abraham Heschel observes that "I asked for wonder, and He gave it to me." Wonder serves to deliver this quality to all who ask.
