The Boy Who Spoke to the Earth speaks to kids and more #Giveaway

Surfing in the Arctic Circle is not some people’s idea of fun. I would love to go there, do some camping and hiking, but that cold water is good for salmon or whatever other fish live up there.  To nature photographer Chris Burkard that as well as other adventurous places are his office. The Boy Who Spoke to the Earth is a children’s book that he wrote. If you’ve seen his photos then you might expect him to be responsible for the images in the book. However, once you read it you understand why it makes sense that he did the words and David McClellan did the art in this very accessible children’s book.

Burkhard’s images are large and powerful. The story in The Boy Who Spoke to the Earth is just that. A boy starts speaking to the Earth and it talks back to him. The boy asks the Earth how he can find happiness. The Earth then directs him to a variety of locations like the sea, the cliffs, mountains, desert and so on.

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In each location the boy arrives and  notes some of the things that make up the area like sand, stone, rocks or bush.  He also never finds happiness. At the final location he asks the question again, but doesn’t get a response. Finally the Earth asks him to go back the way that he came, but to pay attention, stop and appreciate everything.

It’s at this point in the book it opens up beyond the ‘forest for the trees’ metaphor, which is ironic because that’s exactly what it’s doing. The painted art by David McClellan heretofore is very pretty and makes you curious about that place, but it’s also muted and leaves lots of white space on the page.  After the Earth’s revelation the illustrations fill up the entire page with color, activity and large Panavision type images. These are the ones that made classic westerns, middle Earth sagas or epic adventures that have signature images that make you want to visit those places.

Book Preview | The Boy Who Spoke to the Earth from Dreamling Books on Vimeo.

The Boy Who Spoke to the Earth is great for kids that need to learn the lesson of happiness and where to find it. Wait, that’s you? Yeah, sometimes I have trouble finding it too, that’s where I just need to look out of my office window or take  walk to clear find my own scaled down, somewhat suburban Panavision image.