You Are Home is travel and education via art in our national parks

Which came first, the art or the poetry? You might find yourself asking that question after you look at You Are Home by Evan Turk. An Ode to the National Parks You Are Home is an over sized, illustrated book that will immerse ages four through nine into just under half of the national parks in the United States. For those keeping score at home, there are 58 national parks in the United States and his book shows you a glimpse into 27 of them.

Each week we talk about the new all age comic books being released. The thing that a great all age comic books and a great illustrated book have in common is that they can easily be enjoyed by older audiences as well and their intended young audiences; but it’s not because the content is lowered down to meet the later. It’s because the work has such a wide reaching appeal that it translates just as effortlessly to the middle aged dad (me) as it does to an eight year-old kid who normally gravitates towards animal books.

Children’s illustrated books normally do not need to be over sized. For most books it would be overkill to have a 12” by 11” book occupying library or bookshelf space. If that were the case then elementary school librarians across the country would by partnering with the makers of back backs to get them to adhere to these ridiculously large dimensions.   They don’t need to be, but in some cases, like in You Are Home the over sized layout is welcome and you wouldn’t complain if it were a couple inches larger.

Turk’s illustrations are massive and fill up every possible space on the pages. We see close-ups of Bison in Yellowstone stomping through the river while canyons in the background crawl up to the heavens. There’s a pitch black volcano that’s only illuminated by a blood red stream of lava that’s creeping from the top of the cone. 

Older readers will enjoy the final two pages of the You Are Home because it’s where Turk talks about his inspiration for the book and his technique in creating the art. When Turk was a child he visited many of the national parks because his father worked for them.  Those pages also have a map of the United States where each of the 58 national parks are located which will no doubt inspire some families to change their vacation plans and get outside.