National Trust: Up and Down, A Walk in the Countryside by Rosalind Beardshaw (Children's, Picture book, Board book, 10E/10E)

 September 2017, Nosy Crow, 28 pages, Board Book, Hardback, Review copy

Summary from Nosy Crow 

The fourth in a series of concept books created for the National Trust, this board book takes very young readers on a winter walk through the countryside, going up and down, left and right, from cold to warm and light to dark. With beautiful illustrations from Ros Beardshaw, this elegant little book is a great way of bringing children closer to nature.

Nayu's thoughts 

I saw the cover of this book and instantly wanted to review it - I love the style of illustration, the children are even cuter inside when the hood is shown from a different angle she is extra adorable! Every single page made me feel warm and fuzzy with the sheer joy the children have exploring the world around them. I love how each page has just one word, with the opposite word on the other page, because the illustrations speak volumes for the concept. 

Whoever reads the book to another reader can easily elaborate more on the story to make it more fun, asking questions about what the children do as they play happily in what could be one single day. As a National Trust book I think it does a brilliant job of enticing readers to check out the countryside, while teaching them how they should be behave outside: there's a short poem which I think may be anonymous, but one I saw and remembered as a child along the lines of 

'Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints, verb nothing but time.'

 I don't remember the exact words, indicated with the italic word, but it's a good motto to go by. Flowers, even wild ones, shouldn't be picked because whole ecosystems rely on them. Pictures don't harm nature (obviously stay safe while you take them), all litter should be taken home so it can't harm anything, and whatever that word is time is all that should pass/be done on your visit. Through using so few words this book echoes that sentiment.

Suggested read 

A book which is full of more words and facts but equally as fun for older readers is from a series that I highly recommend: A Kiwi Year and A Canadian Year by Tania McCarney and Tina Snerling (Children's, Non-fiction, 10E/10E)