National Trust: Look What I Found by the River

By Author / Illustrator

Moira Butterfield, Jesus Verona

Genre

Environment & Nature

Age range(s)

Publisher

Nosy Crow

ISBN

9781839940781

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

01-08-2024

Synopsis

Discover a world of wonder on a riverside walk, with this beautiful picture book from the National Trust.

We're going for a walk outside, exploring by the riverside.
Look what I found! Two seed heads on stalks, like tiny drumsticks.

Set off on a riverside adventure to find natural treasure, from a shiny, smooth river pebble to a little cushion of moss, then learn more about the found object with irresistibly illustrated and informative nature notes. Packed full of fascinating facts alongside a gentle rhyming narrative and encouraging children to get outside and explore their surroundings, this is a nature treasure hunt series for the whole family to treasure!

Other titles in the series include: Look What I Found in the Woods, Look What I Found at the Seaside and Look What I Found at the Farm. Every Nosy Crow paperback picture book comes with a free 'Stories Aloud' audio recording - just scan the QR code and listen along! Find out more from author Moira Butterfield.

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Reviews

Lauren

Look What I Found By The River is a beautifully curated mix of fiction and non-fiction and part of the 'Look What I Found' series by Moira Butterfield and Jesus Verona for the National Trust.

The book starts with three friends going for a walk on the riverside to find new plants and wildlife. The mix of the description of the river and plants and the information is beautifully done. Every page is feast for the eyes and you could spend hours pouring over each page.

The book is presented beautifully and is accessible for all, depending on how much or little you would like to learn. Every other page has a 'can you also see..?' feature, which allows you to look deeper into the picture and try and spot animals and plants. It also has an identification chart of plants and animals to spot at different points of the river, which you could take with you on a river hunt.

I am definitely keeping an eye out for the other books in this series as I think they are a great addition to the bookshelf.

32 pages / Reviewed by Lauren Beach, teacher

Elen

Look What I Found by the River follows a small group of children as they go on an adventure alongside a river to find natural treasures - and we're encouraged to do the same in our own nature walks. Each of the 'Look What I Found' books are published by Nosy Crow in collaboration with the National Trust.

This book follows the children as they walk by the riverside, discovering and examining different plants, animals and other things they find the landscape, from a smooth pebble to grasses and insects, as well as all the different kinds of birds and amphibians that you find in or near a river, helping children to learn how much there is to discover in our natural environments.

The illustrations are clear, colourful and add to a reader's understanding of what the children in the story find. They also help entice the young reader to want to undertake their own natural 'treasure hunt' in their local environment, learning about things they might find before they set out. There are also 'Can you see..' challenges at the foot of several of the pages, which invite further exploration of the pictures.

Like the other books in this series, Look What I Found by the River is packed full of easily-digested information to help children explore their own environment and also encourage them to take their own walks and adventures in nature. I particularly enjoyed seeing the children creating art from the things they had found during their walk - what a lovely way to encourage young children to be active in exploring nature.

Picture book / Ages 4+ / Reviewed by Elen Green