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Between global warming, holes in the ozone, and the pollution of our seas and rivers, maybe it is best to keep kids indoors and pacified in front of the television....but probably not. If these aren't real threats then there's nothing to protect our children (or ourselves) from, and if they are real threats—all the more reason to instill a love of nature in the younger generations.

Kids have an inclination toward exploration and learning. Allowing them to do so encourages not only active bodies and active minds, it fosters a healthy imagination and love of beauty. Charlotte Mason understood this over a century ago, and developed a system of education in which nature study played a prominent role. It is in nature, more than in the classroom or the rec room or even the library, that children best learn by observation, and this habit once formed will never disappear.

The often-referenced "childlike wonder" inherent in all of us from a young age (though modern society seems to be stamping it out quicker and more efficiently) isn't just some esoteric feeling of awe. It's literal wonder—kids wonder how birds fly, why their pet dog's fur falls out in summer, where ants go in the winter, why it gets colder and harder to breathe the higher you get. The less contact they have with the natural world, the less wonder they'll have; but the reverse is also true, and kids allowed to roam and explore the outdoors will develop a sense of inquisitiveness that can only help them in the so-called "real world."

Preparation for the Real World of modern myth often takes on peculiar guises. Children are snatched from the fields and streams and placed in front of computer screens or television sets. They are crowded into classrooms and made to feel good about the fact that they are learning nothing at the same rate as everyone around them. They are given plastic toys with supposed educational properties and made to "play" with them under close adult supervision.

Meanwhile, the real real world waits outside the walls and doors and windows with its fresh smells, its colors brighter and more unique than anything on HDTV or Blu-Ray, its real wind, and its endless mysteries. If you don't like answering questions, don't want your kids to grow or exercise, prefer fat and lazy to fit and intelligent offspring, by all means somberly prepare them for a life without questions, and consequently without answers. If you want children who will grown into thoughtful adults with a sense of the loveliness of Earth and their place in it, keeping them inside is possibly the most dangerous choice you can make on their behalf.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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Adventures of Bob White
Thornton Burgess Peter Cottontail Books #23
by Thornton W. Burgess
Illustrated from Dover Publications
for 2nd-4th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$5.00
Akiak: A Tale From the Iditarod
by Robert J. Blake
Reprint from Puffin Books
for 1st-3rd grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Another Field Guide to Little Known and Seldom-Seen Birds of North America
by Ben, Cathryn, and John Sill
from Peachtree Publishers, Ltd.
in Field Guides & Nature Handbooks (Location: NAT-FIELD)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Avenging the Owl
by Melissa Hart
from Sky Pony Press
for 4th-7th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Balto and the Great Race
Totally True Adventures
by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
1st Printing from Random House Books for Young Readers
for 1st-3rd grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$5.99
Bed for the Winter
DK Readers Level 1
by Karen Wallace
1st edition from DK Children
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in DK Readers (Location: EAR-DK)
$4.99
Big Tree
by Mary Buff, Conrad Buff
1st Edition from Viking Press
for Preschool-2nd grade
1947 Newbery Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Biography of a Grizzly
Thrushwood Book
by Earnest Thompson Seton
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Bluebirds and Their Neighbors
by Wayne Northey
from Pacific Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Bubo: The Great Horned Owl
by John L. and Jean George, illustrated by Jean George
from E.P. Dutton & Co.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Bufo
by Robert M. McClung
from William Morrow & Company
for Preschool-1st grade
in Vintage Science & Math (Location: VIN-SCI)
Burgess Animal Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Yesterday's Classics
for 1st-4th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$15.95
Burgess Bird Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Dover Publications
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$12.95
Burgess Bird Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Yesterday's Classics
for 1st-4th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$15.95
Burgess Bird Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
Color Edition from Living Book Press
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$19.99
Burgess Bird Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Living Book Press
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$18.99
Burgess Bird Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Living Book Press
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$28.99
Burgess Flower Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Living Book Press
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$19.99
Burgess Flower Book for Children
by Thornton W. Burgess
from Living Book Press
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$28.99
By Pond and River
Eyes and No Eyes #2
by Arabella B. Buckley
from Yesterday's Classics
for 2nd-5th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$13.95
By Pond and River
Eyes and No Eyes #2
by Arabella B. Buckley
from Living Book Press
for 2nd-5th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$7.99
By Pond and River
Eyes and No Eyes #2
by Arabella B. Buckley
from Cassell
for 2nd-5th grade
in Vintage Readers & Textbooks (Location: VIN-READ)
$25.00 (1 in stock)
City Under the Back Steps
by Evelyn Sibley Lampman
from Purple House Press
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$14.99
Colly's Barn
by Michael Morpurgo
New Ed from Mammoth
for 3rd-5th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Curious World of Calpurnia Tate
by Jacqueline Kelly
Reprint from Square Fish Publishing
for 4th-8th grade
2010 Newbery Honor
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$7.99
Dan and the Miranda
by Wilson Gage, illustrated by Glen Rounds
from World Publishing Company
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Danger in the Desert
by Roger Cohen
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 5th-9th grade
in 20th Century Exploration (Location: HISW-20EXP)
Danny and the Dinosaur Go To Camp
An I Can Read Book
by Syd Hoff
from HarperCollins
for Preschool-1st grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Danny Dunn and the Fossil Cave
by Jay Williams & Raymond Abrashkin, Illustrated by Brinton Turkle
from McGraw-Hill
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Delver's Danger
Smithsonian Wild Heritage Collection
by Susan Thompson-Hoffman, illustrated by Eileen Major Buzzanco
from Trudy Corporation
for 1st-4th grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$5.00 (2 in stock)
Desert Is Theirs
by Byrd Baylor, illustrated by Peter Parnall
from Aladdin Paperbacks
for Preschool-2nd grade
1976 Caldecott Honor Book
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Desperate Adventures of Zeno and Alya
by Jane Kelly
from Square Fish Publishing
for 3rd-6th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
Detective Dinosaur
by James Skofield
from Barnes & Noble
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$4.50 (1 in stock)
Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins
by Barbara Kerley
from Scholastic Inc.
for Preschool-3rd Grade
2002 Caldecott Honor Book, NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book
in Oversized Picture Books (Location: PIC-OVER)
$19.99
Dinotopia
by James Gurney
from Scholastic Inc.
for 4th-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Dinotopia: The World Beneath
by James Gurney
2012nd edition from Calla Editions
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Dolphin Adventure
by Wayne Grover
from HarperTrophy
for 3rd-7th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$5.99 $3.50 (4 in stock)
Dolphin Treasure
by Wayne Grover
from HarperTrophy
for Ages 8-12
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$5.99 $3.50 (2 in stock)
Double Trouble in Bugland
by William Kozwinkle
from David R. Godine
for 3rd-8th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Elf Owl
by Mary & Conrad Buff
3rd Printing from Viking Press
for Kindergarten-2nd grade
in Vintage Picture Books (Location: VIN-PIC)
Ereth's Birthday
Poppy Stories #4
by Avi
from HarperCollins
for 4th-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$9.99
Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
by Jacqueline Kelly
from Henry Holt and Company
for 4th-7th grade
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
by Jacqueline Kelly
Reprint from Square Fish Publishing
for 4th-8th grade
2010 Newbery Honor
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$8.99
Gay-Neck: The Story of a Pigeon
by Dhan Gopal Mukerji
from Dutton Juvenile
for 4th-9th grade
1928 Newbery Medal winner
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$14.00 (2 in stock)
Grasshopper on the Road
An I Can Read Book Level 2
by Arnold Lobel
from HarperCollins
for Preschool-3rd grade
in I Can Read Books (Location: EAR-ICR)
$5.99
Grasshopper on the Road
An I Can Read Book Level 2
by Arnold Lobel
from Harper & Row
for Preschool-3rd grade
in I Can Read Books (Location: EAR-ICR)
Harry's Mad
by Dick King-Smith
from Yearling
for 2nd-3rd grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$6.99
Hunting for Whales
by Michael McHugh
from Great Light Publications
for 6th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
I Love Guinea Pigs
by Dick King-Smith
from Candlewick Press
for Preschool-3rd grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$7.99
If You're Not from the Prairie . . .
by David Bouchard
from Aladdin Paperbacks
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Journey with Jonah
by Madeleine L'Engle
from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
for 1st-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
Kate Greenaway's Marigold Garden
by Kate Greenaway
from Frederick Warne & Company
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Little Brother to the Bear
by William J. Long
from Yesterday's Classics
for 4th-6th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$13.95
Little Brother to the Bear
by William J. Long
from Yesterday's Classics
for 4th-6th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
Little Chick's Big Day
by Mary DeBall Kwitz
from HarperCollins
for Preschool-1st grade
in I Can Read Books (Location: EAR-ICR)
Lone Muskrat
by Glen Rounds
from Holiday House
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
Lucky Ducklings
by Eva Moore& Nancy Carpenter
from Orchard Books
for Preschool-1st grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Minn of the Mississippi
by Holling C. Holling
from Houghton Mifflin
Realistic fiction for 3rd-8th grade
1952 Newbery Honor Book
in BFB Holling Geography (Location: HISCUR-BFG)
$12.99
Moby-Dick
Signet Classics
by Herman Melville
from Signet Classics
Realistic Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$5.95
Moby-Dick
Everyman's Library
by Herman Melville
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Realistic Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$35.00
Moby-Dick
Reader's Digest World's Best Reading
by Herman Melville
from Reader's Digest
Realistic Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Moby-Dick
by Herman Melville
from Penguin Putnam
Realistic Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$16.00
Moby-Dick
Wordsworth Classics
by Herman Melville
from Wordsworth Classics
Realistic Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Moby-Dick
Macmillan Classics
by Herman Melville, illustrated by Robert Shore
from Macmillan
Realistic Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Moby-Dick
Calla Editions
by Herman Melville
from Dover Publications
Realistic Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Moby-Dick
by Herman Melville
from Franklin Library
Realistic Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Moby-Dick
Modern Library
by Herman Melville
from Modern Library
Realistic Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
Moby-Dick
by Herman Melville, illustrated by Boardman Robinson
from Easton Press
Realistic Nautical Fiction for 9th-Adult
in Leather Bound Collectible Books (Location: VIN-LEA)
Moby-Dick (retold)
by Herman Melville, presented by Jane Needle, illustrated by Patrick Benson
1st edition from Candlewick Press
for 4th-8th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Moby-Dick (retold)
by Herman Melville, presented by Jane Needle, illustrated by Patrick Benson
1st edition from Candlewick Press
for 4th-8th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
Oliver
by Syd Hoff
from HarperCollins
for Preschool-1st grade
in Early Readers (Location: EAR-MISC)
Owl Babies
by Martin Waddell
from Candlewick Press
for 1st-3rd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$6.99
Paddletail the Beaver and His Neighbors
by Neil Wayne Northey
from Pacific Press
for 1st-3rd grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
$4.00 (1 in stock)
Pagoo
by Holling C. Holling
from Houghton Mifflin
Realistic fiction for 3rd-8th grade
in BFB Holling Geography (Location: HISCUR-BFG)
$12.99
Parables from Nature
by Mrs. Alfred Gatty
from Yesterday's Classics
for 4th-6th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$17.95
Parables from Nature
by Mrs. Alfred Gatty
from Feather Trail Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
Patrick's Dinosaurs
by Carol Carrick, illustrated by Donald Carrick
from Clarion Books
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Peak
by Roland Smith
1st edition from Harcourt Children's Books
for 4th-7th grade
in Action & Adventure Stories (Location: FIC-ADV)
$8.99
Penguin Pup for Pinkerton
by Steven Kellogg
from Dial Books for Young Readers
for 1st-2nd grade
in Clearance: Picture Books (Location: ZCLE-PIC)
Polar Opposites
by Erik Brooks
from Two Lions
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$16.99
Porpoise of Pirate Bay
by F. Martin Howard, illustrated by Lynd Ward
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
Real Thief
by William Steig
from Houghton Mifflin
for 3rd-5th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Salmon Creek
by Annette LeBox
Reprint from Groundwood Books
for 3rd-5th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Scrub Dog of Alaska
by Walt Morey
New edition
for 4th-6th grade
in Animal Stories (Location: FIC-ANI)
Secrets of the Woods
by William J. Long
from Yesterday's Classics
for 3rd-8th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$11.95
Secrets of the Woods
by William J. Long
from Living Book Press
for 3rd-8th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek
by Evelyn Sibley Lampman, illustrated by Herbert Buel
from Purple House Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
$12.00
Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek
by Evelyn Sibley Lampman
from Scholastic Inc.
for 3rd-6th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
$3.00 (1 in stock)
Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek
by Evelyn Sibley Lampman, illustrated by Herbert Buel
from Purple House Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Shy Stegosaurus of Indian Springs
by Evelyn Sibley Lampman, illustrated by Herbert Buel
from Purple House Press
for 3rd-6th grade
in Fantasy Fiction (Location: FIC-FAN)
Sign of the Seahorse
by Graeme Base
First Edition from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Snow Goose
by Paul Gallico
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
for 7th-12th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$19.95 $14.00 (2 in stock)
Song of Creation
by Paul Goble
from Eerdmans
for Preschool- 3rd Grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Songbird
by Nancy Lohr
from Bob Jones University Press
for 5th-6th grade
in Historical Fiction (Location: FIC-HIF)
$6.99 $4.50 (3 in stock)
Story Book of Science
by Jean Henri Fabre, translated by Florence Constable Bicknell
from Yesterday's Classics
for 4th-6th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$16.95
Story Book of Science
by Jean Henri Fabre
from Living Book Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Living Science (Location: SCI-CMLS)
$12.99
Sunflower House
by Eve Bunting
1st Voyager Books Ed from Sandpiper Books
for Nursery-2nd grade
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
$7.99
That Quail, Robert
by Margaret A. Stanger
Eighth Printing, August 1966 from J.B. Lippincott Co.
for 5th-8th grade
in Vintage Fiction & Literature (Location: VIN-FIC)
The Defender
by Nicholas Kalashnikoff
Dover 2017 from Dover Publications
for 4th-8th grade
1952 Newbery Honor Book
in Realistic Fiction (Location: FIC-REA)
$5.95
Those Other Animals
by G. A. Henty
from Robinson Curriculum
for 6th-10th grade
in G. A. Henty Books (Location: FIC-HEN)
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