VOA标准英语2012--Books Introduce Children to Natural World at Early Age

Books Introduce Children to Natural World at Early Age

Ava Coggin is being homeschooled. She loves when her mother reads to her - especially Bring on the Birds It's an award-winning picture book about animals, written and illustrated¹ by Stockdale.

"What I love doing is showcasing animals in all their glory and all their diversity to kids and saying take a look at this, this is pretty incredible," Stockdale said.

At her studio near Washington D.C., Stockdale says she feels like an environmentalist, encouraging children to focus on the beauty of nature. She spends a lot of time on her books' drawings and its rhymes. 

"Just the sound of the words: round fish, clown fish, fish that like to hide. Stripe fish, spite fish, fish that lip and glide². So that makes it fun," she said.

Stockdale says she's influenced by the lush vegetation and animal life in Florida, where she grew up. But it was one of her children who gave her the idea for her first book.

"This is my first book, Some Sleep Standing³ Up And this was inspired by a flamingo⁴, which is in the book, that was standing on one leg when my children and I went to the zoo," she said.

Stockdale's work has earned a place on bookshelves at libraries and schools.

Kathy Isaacs chaired the American Library Association committee that honored Bring On The Birds last year. 

"The text is rhyme but it is natural rhyme. It flows nicely and is rhythmic," said Isaacs. "It's notable because of its pictures, these acrylic paintings that she did which are quite accurate and specific but also shows the birds in their context."

Now, Stockdale's books also come as coloring books and puzzles. Ava’s mother, Megan Coggin, has read most of them.

“Love the books," said Coggin. "I loved that the illustrations are accurate but very kid-friendly.”

Stockdale's next picture book will be called Stripes Of All Types. It's about animals around the world and their unique stripes. 

"This is going to be the painting for scouting⁵ a reef," she said. "When I did the research for this, I had to make sure that all of these fishes would co-habit with one another." 

With a careful approach to her work, Susan Stockdale continues to give children an exciting glimpse of the natural world that she clearly loves. 

1 illustrated   

adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• His lecture was illustrated with slides taken during the expedition. 他在讲演中使用了探险时拍摄到的幻灯片。
• The manufacturing Methods: Will be illustrated in the next chapter. 制作方法将在下一章说明。

2 glide   

n./v.溜，滑行；(时间)消逝

参考例句：

• We stood in silence watching the snake glide effortlessly.我们噤若寒蝉地站着，眼看那条蛇逍遥自在地游来游去。
• So graceful was the ballerina that she just seemed to glide.那芭蕾舞女演员翩跹起舞，宛如滑翔。

3 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

4 flamingo   

n.红鹳，火烈鸟

参考例句：

• This is the only species of flamingo in the region,easily recognized by its pink plumage.这是那个地区唯一一种火烈鸟，很容易凭粉红色的羽毛辨认出来。
• In my family,I am flamingo in the flock of pigeons.在家里，我就像一只被困在鸽笼里的火烈鸟。

5 scouting   

守候活动，童子军的活动

参考例句：

• I have people scouting the hills already. 我已经让人搜过那些山了。
• Perhaps also from the Gospel it passed into the tradition of scouting. 也许又从《福音书》传入守望的传统。 来自演讲部分