Nature comes alive in spring­time and with it many fam­i­lies resolve to spend more time out­doors in the com­ing year. Nature Adven­tures by Mick Man­ning and Brita Granstrom is an effec­tive field guide for fam­ily nature explo­rations. In heav­ily illus­trated fash­ion, they show the plant and ani­mal life found in a vari­ety of set­tings such as In the Town and the Seashore. There is a also help­ful sec­tion on the sea­sons, high­light­ing chang­ing fea­tures such as win­ter twigs. Sprin­kled amidst are quo­ta­tions from the nature poetry of famous poets such as William Wordsworth and Ted Hughes.

While focused on the British envi­ron­ment, the beau­ti­ful water­colour and pen­cil draw­ings will draw chil­dren in to the infor­ma­tion rel­e­vant to inves­ti­gat­ing nature in North Amer­ica as well. For exam­ple, they iden­tify the cul­prits behind seven dif­fer­ently dam­aged tree trunks and the easy-to-remember com­par­isons of bird calls (a jay’s noisy alarm call sounds like tear­ing paper). And won’t chil­dren be fas­ci­nated to learn that fox musk smells liked fried gar­lic and tomatoes!

Head over to Gath­er­ing Books for this week’s Non­fic­tion Mon­day round-up.