Customer Reviews

Children of Forest

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a wonderful book which has been in my family for generations. This book has adventure, educates children about nature and animals, family bonding, etc. The detailed pictures can be explored for hours toghether with your children.

As other reviewers have stated, Children of the Forest is a charming classic. There is no defined plot, but the book simply follows the family of "little people" who live in the forest for one year as they work and play amongst the trees. My 9 year old daughter really enjoys reading through this book. There is a sweetness and an innocence to this book that not many modern books possess.

I wanted to write this review just to make sure that potential buyers pay attention to the size of the edition they are buying. I did not carefully read Amazon's listed dimensions for this book and I expected to get a normal sized storybook--instead I got a very small pocket sized book. You know those small white Beatrix Potter hardcovers? This book is almost exactly the same size. Pocket size--which may be a positive feature if you'd like to take this book along on a nature walk, but I just thought I would mention in case others besides myself were hoping to get something larger.

Adorable tale about a miniature family, mother, father, two daughters and two sons who live in the forest. Children play and go to school with forest animals. The animals and children speak to each other. There are several morals taught in the course of the story. Follows the family from one season through the next. The children help the parents work, harvest food for winter, etc. It is nice to see the children happily working with the family rather than just existing to be entertained. The children have several adventures and lots of different fun activities playing with the animals in the forest. The book is formatted with text on the left page with one or more black and white illustrations above and/or below it, and the right side of the book is one big full color illustration. The book is a large format. The illustrations are gorgeous and offer much to look at, many details, rather than just mimicking the exact words of the text. I wish there were more books of this high quality available today. If there are more 100 year old books like this, I wish they would be republished. The story is lovely and the adult will enjoy reading it over and over.

_Children of the Forest_ is perfect for little people just past picture-only books, or those able to follow a simple story line. It is the tale of a family of tiny people who live in the forest, with a description of their daily lives and interactions with critters of the woods. A very charming story. But the illustrations are also marvelous, of an almost "art-nouveau" style of the early 20th century. Highly recommended.

This book in its original format is a classic and family favourite, I would recommend this book to anyone with young children. However, I recently ordered it and it came in miniature - about postcard size ! the original format is at least 8x11 in size and for the best appreciation of the beautiful art work, bigger is better. The small size does not do this book justice. Get the big format only. I am giving a one star review for the small size only.

I must admit, I pretended to buy this for my children but I bought it for me:) The illustrations are so much fun to take in. My older daughter and I like to read this book and then explore places out of doors where the children of the forest might adventure, which seems to me the point of the book as implied by the ending. Great for prompting imaginative play.

Elsa Beskow is classic! What a wonderful book deeply explorative of the Earth. Elsa is accurate with her botanical drawings. She has such a beautiful mind! She places fairy children and elf children as the helping hands to Earth's changes. As the insects and bugs are preparing for Spring's entrance, the children paint and polish them. Perfect book for ages 2-6. Innocent, perfect for homeschooled children.