Mother Nature Takes a Vacation

Joan Weller is Head Librarian at the West Branch of the Ottawa Public
Library.

This is an unbelievable story that takes personification to unreal
heights. In fact, it is so amateurish that one marvels at its
publication.

Disgusted with people’s pollution of the environment, Mother Nature
escapes to Florida. (Already the plot line is faulty; Florida as an
escape from pollution seems an unusual choice.) Little Sue goes off in
search of Mother Nature and along the way has little “talks” with
flowers, clouds, birds, and so on. The book’s hasty conclusion brings
wild-eyed Mother Nature back to a world where people now care.

The book’s illustrations attempt to place the story in an ideal
setting more reminiscent of a fairyland than of reality. (Touches of
gold are lost here and belong more in a medieval fantasy.) But that is
just another of the book’s many faults. Not recommended.