If We Could See the Air

Deborah Dowson is a children’s librarian in Pickering, Ontario.

In this second volume in the Nature All Around series, David Suzuki has
Megan and Jamey explore the nature of air as if it were a substance they
could see as well as feel. Picturing the air as if it were water proves
to be an amusing game for Megan. Her imagination and interest in
learning about air lead her to a discussion with her mother about how
people, plants, and animals breathe and exchange air, how the air
circulates, and how smells and sounds travel through the air. The
ensuing conversation takes Megan on an imaginary journey to prehistoric
times, a tropical rainforest, a winter landscape, and all the way to the
limit of the earth’s atmosphere.

The friendly, attractive art by Eugenie Fernandes invites readers to
investigate further examples of the concepts that are introduced. A
question-and-review page is included to encourage a closer look at the
pictures and more thought on the subject.

Suzuki provides a good deal of factual information in casual,
comfortable prose. His book sets out to make nature appealing and
accessible to young children of either gender and, perhaps, to their
parents, who may not have thought of reading a selection from the
nonfiction section to their preschool children. Here is an opportunity
to explore abstract science concepts in a visual and concrete framework
that is both fanciful and fun. Highly recommended.