Step Gently Out

I have been reading this lovely book to my 2nd grade classes this last week. We are in the middle of our Mock Caldecott unit and I am ever hopeful that a book illustrated with photographs will one day bear a Caldecott Medal. Surprisingly, my students have really taken to this quiet book and appreciate the beautifully composed close-ups of insects.

But where to put it? My original thought had been to catalog the book under Verse (after all it is a poem) but I worried that it wouldn't be found there. I began to ask my classes where they would want this book. I expected them to say Animals - Bugs. On the last page there is a paragraph of information about each insect featured in the book. Interestingly, about 80% of my students have asked me to catalog the book under Nature. When I express my surprise "isn't it a book about bugs?" and worry "will anyone find it in Nature?" I am assured by their articulate comments: "it's a book about nature, about looking at things around you." and "its more than bugs, Tali."

So, into Nature it will go where hopefully many people will have a chance to explore it's beauty and the world beyond it.