Counting on the Woods

A red-headed boy sets off on: "One path, / a stick for a staff" and soon encounters "Two birds, / daybreak's words". On his journey, he finds bugs, worms, nests, tracks (and a mystery!), stones, flowers, vines, and "Ten trees, / whose innumerable leaves / clean the air / for everything that breathes". It is here that we see what this book adds up to: a close look at a particular place that reveals the child's interconnection with the woods and with the world. This unusual book beckons lap-sitter and reader alike to discover the joy of seeing, as well as counting, all that lies along their own paths. The wonders of this path are identified in notes on the final page. Through the lyrical text and inviting photographs, poet and photographer have composed a hymn to Olson's homeplace, a hundred acres in Appalachian Kentucky. Any child's homeplace can become the setting of a counting book -- and indeed, making of such a book is a pleasure most young people enjoy. They need only open their eyes, indoors or out.