Step Gently Out

by Helen Frost, Rick Lieder (Illustrator)

Overview

“A dazzlingly poetic photo album of the insect world for tots on up.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

What would happen if you walked very, very quietly and looked carefully at the natural world outside? You might see a cricket leap, a moth spread her wings, or a spider step across a silken web. In simple, evocative language, Helen Frost hints at the many tiny creatures around us, while in stunning close-up photographs, Rick Lieder captures a katydid's eye, a firefly, and many more living wonders awaiting discovery. Back matter amplifies the descriptions of the insects and spiders in the book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763695170
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	02/13/2018
Series:	Step Gently, Look Closely
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	660,651
Product dimensions:	8.80(w) x 9.60(h) x 0.10(d)
Lexile:	AD400L (what's this?)
Age Range:	2 - 5 Years

About the Author

Helen Frost is the author of Monarch and Milkweed as well as six novels-in-poems for children and young adults. She lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Rick Lieder is a nature photographer, artist, and book-jacket designer. He lives in Michigan.

Editorial Reviews

Breathtaking photos and an exquisite poem capture a bug's-eye view of nature... While Frost's lightly rhymed declarative verse encourages children to experience the natural world with care and openness to the tiny wonders of insect life around them, Lieder's richly colored intimate close ups offer every reason why... A dazzlingly poetic photo album of the insect world for tots on up.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Captivating photography gives readers a closeup view of the world of insects, as described by a gently contemplative poem... The words and images achieve a Zenlike calm that also hints at the complicated web of life unfolding all around.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Nature’s miracles are often small and hard to capture, but in a syncopated harmony of text and image, Frost and Lieder manage to depict tiny moments as seen through a bugs-eye-view of the world... Moving from day to night, the poem makes for a soothing bedtime lullaby that includes a reminder to children about the book’s small creatures: “In song and dance / and stillness, / they share the world / with you.”
—Booklist (starred review)

The felicitous pairing of poetry and pictures is enjoyable and useful.
—School Library Journal

If you like bugs, you’ll love looking at these amazing images.
—GeekDad (a Wired blog)

STEP GENTLY OUT not only fosters a love of poetry but also of the creatures it describes. It shows passage of time and the behavior of some of our most populous occupants of the planet... It is one of those rare picture books where the text, art, and design merge seamlessly together to create a spectacular book.
—Anita Silvey's Children's Book-A-Day Almanac

Extraordinary close-up photographs of bees, ants, crickets and more, ensuring that we'll never look at these tiny creatures the same way again.
—Huffington Post Parents

Stunning photography and evocative language encourage children — and their grown-ups — to pause for just a moment to notice the natural world.
—The Plain Dealer

You'd be a fool to overlook this book for any reason whatsoever...Steeped in lovely, through and through.
—Fuse #8 Production blog

From the Publisher

Captivating photography gives readers a closeup view of the world of insects, as described by a gently contemplative poem. Lieder captures the small miracles of a bumblebee in mid-flight, a spider dangling from a dewy branch, and a firefly’s flash, while Frost urges readers to be mindful of events that seem insignificant: “A spider spins a silken thread/ to step across the air./ A praying mantis looks at you—/ do you know she’s there?” Working in concert, the words and images achieve a Zenlike calm that also hints at the complicated web of life unfolding all around. Endnotes discuss the 11 featured insects in greater detail. Ages 2–5. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

Gr 1–4—Poetic lines and intriguing photographs invite readers to observe a host of insects that "share the world" with us. Seen in magnified close-up views against soft-focus backgrounds, "a honeybee flies past..../A cricket leaps/and lands, then sits back/and sings." Caterpillars, ants, moths, a praying mantis, and a katydid are among the small creatures that are "bathed in golden light" and "as evening turns to night,/the creatures shine with stardust. Then they're splashed with morning dew." Frost's spare text is nicely rhythmic and falls into long rhyming couplets. Appearing in small chunks set in inviting double-page pictures, the poem reads rather as blank verse, the imagery and phrasing pleasing when shared aloud. The felicitous pairing of poetry and pictures is enjoyable and useful. A glossary cites the species name of each insect with a brief paragraph describing some of its behavior.—Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston

School Library Journal

Breathtaking photos and an exquisite poem capture a bug's-eye view of nature. One can only hope the present collaboration will be the first of many between nature photographer Lieder and Frost (Hidden, 2011, etc.), one of the most gifted, versatile children's poets writing today, for the synthesis of word and image in this short picture book is so finely wed that the final page turn leaves one begging for more. While Frost's lightly rhymed declarative verse encourages children to experience the natural world with care and openness to the tiny wonders of insect life around them, Lieder's richly colored intimate close ups offer every reason why. "Step gently out," Frost advises, pointing out how "the creatures shine with stardust, / they're splashed with morning dew. / In song and dance and stillness, they share the world with you." Golden-hued endpapers catch a honeybee and firefly mid-flight; the volume also spotlights the less-frequently spied praying mantis, katydid and damselfly, alongside more common insects. For precise readers wishing to know, for example, that the fuzzy, stoplight-colored creature twisting around a blade of grass happens to be a tussock moth caterpillar, the volume's endnotes include brief descriptions of the featured species. A dazzlingly poetic photo album of the insect world for tots on up. (Picture book. 2 & up)

Kirkus Reviews