Some books are a MUST-HAVE for your family library, and What Does the Sky Say? by Nancy White Carlstrom is one of them.
In the book, a precocious little girl spends her time "listening" to the sky tell her all sorts of things on a winter's day when her mom is calling her in for supper; and on an orange-and-cayenne colored evening just as the sun is going down. It whispers to her on a rainy evening when it sees her tears for her soggy sand castle and reminds her that soon the sun will come out and there will be more fun things to create.
The sky gives her a lesson on falling leaves, on starry skies, and on evenings where the sky brims with so many colors that there's no telling what in the world it's trying to say. But no matter what color the sky may be and what words it whispers to the little girl's mind, the end result is that she enjoys life every moment of the day and lives it to the fullest along the way.
This lovely book was written in 2001. A lot has changed in our world since then, but one thing that HASN'T changed is our desperate need for calm, normalcy and tranquility of soul. This book provides all that and more. Ms. Carlstrom's prose is so lyrical that it is like a lullaby; it is honey to the soul. Artist Tim Ladwig does what he always does when he commits to a project; he gives readers an eye-full of unforgettable colors, like the somber blue of a snowy day just after nightfall; the breathtaking beauty of an "orange silk" sky as the sun goes down behind the mountains; and the swirling yellow leaves of autumn that make a crunchy blanket across the landscape and confirm that...yes, fall is finally here. Readers embrace the little girl's smiles, they identify with her tears about her ruined sand castle, and they nod their heads when they see her skinned knees on the day she learned to ride her bicycle. In short, because of Tim Ladwig's unique ability to capture life's essence, they celebrate with the girl as if they're right in the book beside her.
Use this book to inspire creativity, oneness with nature, independent thinking or simply the inspiration to "put the cell phone or tablet away and go outside into the sunshine."
