In my book, What Do
You See When You Look at Me?, I use bright and colorful real life photos of
both wild and domestic animals. With each picture, I invite my young readers to
look carefully at the animal and describe what they see. Underneath each photo
is a one-sentence caption of what I see. For example, the first photo is of a
flamingo, not the whole bird, just the head and neck. I see a pink, curvy neck
yet I also see the letter S. I hope to teach children to look at more than just
a flamingo or elephant but to see the detail in each animal. I also hope that
they can look closely at the animal and look for emotion such as the smile on
the elephant's face, the tear in the horse's eye or even the big yawn of the
tiger that is either tired or bored. If I were to talk to parents or teachers
about my book and how I would like for them to use my book with children, I
would tell them that aside from looking at fun pictures and learning to read
the simple text, I would hope that they would use the pictures as opportunities
to encourage discussion with children about animals and nature. To talk about
where they live, how they live, what they eat, what their needs are, how people
can help animals and to talk about the fact that animals feel tired, feel
hungry, feel scared, feel happy just like we do! I would hope they would also
talk about the need to take care of our living world so that we have a healthy
world for everyone to live in, people and animals.
Hopefully, my book will
begin to develop an appreciation for animals in young children that will
continue to develop throughout their adult life. I want them to see that
animals are as different as people are and that they are living, feeling
creatures that have needs just like you and I. The world we live in is filled
with exciting and interesting natural living things like animals. Maybe with my
book, I can encourage children (and their parents) to go back outside and
explore nature. As fun and challenging as all our technology is, there is
something exciting about exploring nature, looking to see what we find under a
rock or what birds are hiding in the trees and don't forget to take your
camera. I would like to share and pass on something that my parents did with my
sisters and me. Next time you go for a walk or on vacation, give your children
a camera, disposable ones are what we used, and tell them to take pictures of
things they see and discover in nature. It is a great way to explore nature and
learn different skills in a fun way! And from that, I hope that they will
develop a respect and determination to keep our living world a healthy and
happy living world for generations to come.
About the Author:
Sarah E. Sauer is a childhood brain cancer survivor. She is
also an animal lover. Sarah’s love of animals was something she drew on for
strength throughout her illness. In her first children’s book, Sarah shares her
love and respect for wildlife animals through her photos she took for her high
school digital photography class. Sarah is currently studying early childhood
education and hopes to share her love and knowledge of animals to promote and
develop an appreciation of wildlife in young children. She currently lives in
Corydon, IN with her family and her horses, llamas, donkey, cats and dogs.
Author website http://www.halopublishing.com/bookstore/Sarah-Sauer
Publisher website http://halopublishing.com/
Find out more about Sarah E. Sauer and her book at the World
of Ink Author/Book Tour, visit http://tinyurl.com/carfswr
To learn more about the World of Ink Tours visit http://worldofinknetwork.com
