Christine's picture books reflect her interests in painting, as you can see, but also her delight in introducing young children to the natural world. Children experience an innate and immediate connection to nature. We see this as parents and teachers. Children recognize the loving care of a parent bird for nestlings and they appreciate the beauty of a flower. As children grow to understand the natural world, and the relationship that animals have to each other and their environment, the more they can embrace and steward it. In this time of climate change and environmental threat, we need good stewards.
Attached are sample pages from two books, Spring and Autumn, in a four-book series entitled SEASONS IN THE FOREST. The books will illustrate the changing forest during the four seasons of the year. The target age for readers of these books is toddler (who will sit in parent’s lap as she is read to) and early reader. These are beginner’s field guides, you might say. All that a young child needs to know about a mother heron is that she has very long legs and that her nest is high in a wetland snag. The child will then likely recognize the bird when she sees it in the wild with her parents.
All of the flora and fauna in these book are true to the New England forested landscape in which Christine lives and has raised her children with her naturalist husband, Bill, who keeps her correct about animals and plants but also engages in lively discussions about children and nature as he is also a pediatrician.