Hidden City: Poems of Urban Wildlife
Sarah Grace Tuttle
Illustrated by Amy Schimler-Safford
Poetry Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Eerdmans, 2018, 978-0-8028-5459-9
If you live in a city or town you may think that your
environment is devoid of nature but you would be wrong. There are animals and
plants of all kinds living around you, and all you have to do to see them is a
stop and look; listen, watch, and wait.
In our homes
there are busy little mice. If you are up late at night when all is quiet you
might see a mother mouse running to and fro as she rips paper and scurries to
her home only to return to get some more. She is building a nest for the babies
that will probably soon be born.
Outside, on a
rainy day, you might spy sparrows huddled together. There they “chitter-cheep
softly” while they wait for the rain to slow down and eventually cease
altogether. The rain brings forth wonderful surprises too. Under a tree you
might see a fairy ring of mushrooms grow. They appear seemingly overnight, a
circle of delicate little pale cream umbrellas among the grass.
By a fountain
you might see some pigeons dipping, strutting, and cooing. The males flaunt
their courtship dance, hoping that their performance will impress the watching
female. In the park pond, ducks tip up, their tails in their air, their bills
eagerly seeking food under the water. Busily they search until up they pop
happily eating.
On a warm summer
night, beneath the glow of a street lamp, moths congregate. They flitter this
way and that and then, out of nowhere, a bat swoops in and snatches one of the
insects out of the air.
In this
wonderful book, multimedia illustrations are paired with delightful poems to
show young readers that urban environments are full of wild plants and animals.
The author and illustrator take us through the seasons so that we get a full
and rich picture of nature’s annual cycle, and we get to meet all kinds of
wonderful living things on the pages.
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