If you come to Earth, by Sophie Blackall is a stunning and incredibly inspiring book!
I read it to Caitlin, my six-year-old daughter, often and recently took it in for a storytelling and craft session to the preschool kids at the Children’s Cancer Foundation in Singapore. We enjoyed the book, crafting, discussing, and studying the pictures so much that we over ran by 20 minutes!!!!!
Sophie Blackall’s art is stunning. She uses a beautiful soft stroke, adds tons of detail and her colour pallet is gentle, comforting, and warm. Some of her work reminds me of classic botanical illustrators of the early 19thcentury, which I LOVE.
The main character of the storybook is a curious and imaginative child who writes a letter to an alien from another planet inviting them to come and stay. In the letter the child shares all the important things the think someone from another planet may need to know about Planet Earth from the different homes people live in, to the different jobs people do and the different environments there are on our beautiful planet.
The book is provocative, moving, and thoughtful. It poses questions about different races, different families and how together we all share one world, and it needs our protection. It showcases the beauty of the natural world and the creativity of the human mind.
This is a gift book as well as a story book – it is one to keep and be cherished. Ideal for ages 3-8 it should be on every shelf in every home and every library. It is one of my favorite children’s books EVER! Highly, highly, highly recommend!