Christine's picture books reflect her interests in painting, as you can see, but also her delight in introducing young children to the natural world. Children experience an innate and immediate connection to nature. We see this as parents and teachers. They recognize the loving care of a parent bird for nestlings and they appreciate the beauty of a flower. The more children grow to understand the natural world, and the relationship that animals have to each other and their environment, the more they can embrace and steward it. In this time of climate change and environmental threat, we need good stewards.
Below are sample pages from an upcoming four-book series entitled SEASONS IN THE FOREST. The books illustrate the changing forest during the four seasons of the year. Christine has put together these books with toddlers (who will sit in parent’s lap as they read) and early readers in mind. They are beginner’s field guides, you might say. The line "Mother Heron has very long legs" along with an illustration of a heron and her nest full of branchers (baby herons) is enough information for a child to recognize the common New England bird when they see it in the wild with their parents.
All of the flora and fauna in these book are true to the New England forested landscape in which Christine lives and has raised her children with her pediatrician and naturalist husband, Bill, who keeps her correct about animals and plants and engages in lively discussions about children, nature and the process of learning.