Touch the Earth by Julian Lennon -- Book Review

Photo by Julespicturepalace 

Julian Lennon has written a children's book called Touch the Earth.   It was illustrated by Smiljana Coh.  
As an elementary school reading teacher,  children's books are something I love.   So I ordered this one (which happened to be autographed by Julian--bonus!) when it first was available to pre-order.

It is a beautiful book.     The illustrations are gorgeous and very eye-catching.   The color scheme of the book is really amazing as well.   It starts out in blue and then goes into more pink tones and ends with dark colors.    

The book's theme is saving the environment and loving the earth.   The shows four multi-racial children getting into a magic white feather plane and traveling around the globe and focusing on how people can get clean water (cleaning up pollution, irrigation, filtration systems,

The book says that it is written for children ages 3-6.  I think it could be for children ages 3-8, because I am sure my 2nd grade students would be interested in this book.   I would say that the book is written at a DRA level 16, which is late 1st grade or early 2nd grade (if you have a student reading right on grade level).    

The only thing I disliked about this book is also something that I liked.  You cannot use this book as a "read-aloud" to a large group of children.    It is not appropriate to be read during story time in school or at the library.   Why?   Because it is interactive and asks the children to  "push this button" or "tilt the book towards the east."   The book does not really have buttons to push but a drawn button, so the child gets to use his/her imagination.   But if you are reading this book to a large group of kids---I wish you luck because every single kid in the room is going to want to "push the button," and you will have tears because someone didn't get a turn.  

However, the interactive part of the book is really fun.  This book is a great book to share with a child sitting on your lap or for an older child to read to a younger sibling.  

Touch the Earth would be a great book to read for an Earth Day celebration.   It also has many social studies concepts (direction, continents, etc.) and is aligned with the common core.

So why would a Beatles fan be interested in this children's book?   Besides the obvious fact that John Lennon's oldest son wrote the book,  it tells Julian's story of the White Feather at the back of the book.  I love that the kids are traveling in a magic white feather flier. I truly believe that Julian is honoring his father through this children's book, and John would have been so proud of the book.

A children's book written by a Beatles' son might not be for every Beatles book collector, but if nothing else, it would be a wonderful gift to give to a special child in your life.

The link below is the affiliate link to Amazon, where you can purchase this book.  I get a small percentage of anything purchased through this link.  Money made from the Amazon Afflication is used to pay the annual fee to keep this site online.  Thank you for your support.  Sara

https://amzn.to/431v080