Our guide to 6 Maine children’s books aimed at getting kids outdoors

Maine writers and artists have written and illustrated a slew of new children’s books that are odes to humans’ bonds with animals and the natural world of Maine and beyond. People’s attachment to the land and the wild things of nature are of paramount importance to a remarkable number of authors and artists who live in Maine. Those who write and illustrate books for children are no different. A new crop of these books features everything from birds — “buttery gold” goldfinches, daffy ducks and annoying bluebirds — to blueberry loving critters of all kinds, landfills that threaten our way of life and wild animals who love their babies just as much as any human.    To kick off summer reading, the Portland Press Herald reviewed six children’s books that will get parents and children alike curious about the natural world.  **‘Goldfinches’ by Mary Oliver, with art by Melissa Sweet** _Best for ages 4 to 8_ [](https://w2pcms.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/Mary-Oliver-Goldfinches.jpg) I have a note taped to my desk that reads, “Pay attention. Be amazed. Write about it.” Few pieces of advice to writers have ever matched those seven words from the pen of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver. The first four words alone are a mantra for living a rich and happy life. In “Goldfinches,” Portland resident Melissa Sweet understands that advice to include, “Illustrate it.” In this sumptuous picture book, she takes an Oliver poem about birds and illustrates it through two different points of view: her own, using her drawings and expanding upon Oliver’s poem with her own observations; and that of a young girl, who is a budding naturalist and artist. The melding of these two viewpoints — adult and child — is a unique approach to a picture book, and it works extraordinarily well. Advertisement Mary Oliver spent hours in the woods, paying attention and being amazed. Her poem is filled with colorful imagery — “brass heat,” “buttery gold,” “reddish fire” — and Sweet responds by filling the pages of “Goldfinches” with deeply saturated hues as she depicts thistles, finches, forests and fields. Sweet, a Maine Master Naturalist as well as Caldecott Honoree, invites you into her process, sharing illustrations of her color palette notations, her field notes and research notes, a photo of a nest she found and her work desk. Basically, she gives readers a “field guide” to seeing like an artist as well as a naturalist. By contrast, the girl’s illustrations and notes are simpler, more amateurish: she renders similar scenes, with just as much color and verve, but in a childlike fashion that is appropriate and equally striking. Sweet is a two-time Caldecott runner-up. May this book bring her the ultimate honor. It is alive with love of the natural world, with creativity and with beauty. As you savor it, you will certainly end up agreeing with the poem’s final line: “Have you ever been so happy in your life?” **‘Landslide’ by Betty Culley** _Best for ages 10 to 17_ You might be forgiven for dismissing a middle-grade novel about the perils of living next to a dump — sorry, landfill — as an unlikely premise. But for anyone who has ever passed the strange-shaped mountain of garbage next to I-95 in Old Town and wondered what the heck went on there, this book lays it all out. The state-owned Juniper Ridge Landfill is not the direct inspiration for “Landslide” — it was instead a private landfill in Norridgewock — but it’s a pea from the same pod. [](https://w2pcms.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/Betty-Culley-Landslide.jpg) In 1989, that 70-foot-tall landfill collapsed, creating an environmental disaster that spewed garbage over 13 acres, polluting nearby water systems. Fortunately, no one was killed — although people have died in similar disasters. The collapse inspired author Betty Culley, who lived 5 miles away at the time, to wonder what it was like to live and work in close proximity to such a hazard. Advertisement Culley’s hero has a gift: Nathan can detect the tiniest movements, invisible to others, like the quiver of a roof-top ice dam just before it gives way. Living opposite the landfill, he sees one morning that it has begun moving infinitesimally. He becomes obsessed with protecting his father, who operates the trash compactor on top of this 90-foot monster, from dying in a landslide of trash. Culley uses this set-up to teach us about the controversial history of trash disposal (or “garbology,” as we discover it is called). At times it’s a bit didactic, but she keeps the story moving with interesting characters and the suspense of the looming catastrophe. Like Culley’s other middle-grade novels, “The Natural Genius of Ants” and “[Down to Earth](https://www.pressherald.com/2021/11/21/the-stars-have-aligned-this-holiday-season-with-the-publication-of-3-books-for-children-about-the-sky/),” this one is rooted in rural Maine and focuses on the tight-knit, family-oriented nature of small-town life, where people have generations-deep ties to the land and look out for their neighbors. As is her wont, she also mixes in a touch of the supernatural along with her customary dose of real science. As a recycling geek myself, my actual favorite moment in the book occurs at the climax, as Nathan is racing up the shivering trash pile, trying to save the day. Standing on top of three years’ worth of his town’s garbage, he realizes, “Somewhere underneath me, there’s the plastic bags my Legos came in, Mom’s bent shoe nails, the box from Dad’s new work boots, and our broken washing machine.” What better way to bring home to kids the real consequences attached to every bit of _stuff_ we all buy? It could literally end up killing us. **‘Hazel and Herbert’ by Alexandra Thompson** [](https://w2pcms.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/Hazel-Herbert.jpg) _Best for ages 3 to 7_ Oxford Hills resident Alexandra Thompson’s third picture book tells the simple story of Hazel, a young fox who finds a bluebird egg and takes it home to eat. To her dismay it hatches before she can cook it. She’s further dismayed when it attaches itself to her and refuses to leave. The jealousies and irritations engendered by this new addition to the household will be familiar to any child facing the arrival of a new sibling. Thompson’s illustrations are sweet and gentle, as is the (predictably) happy ending. Advertisement **‘Who Loves Blueberries?’ by Rebecca Rule, with art by Arpita Choudhury** _Best for ages 3-7_ [](https://w2pcms.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/Rebecca-Rule-Blueberries.jpg) “Blueberries for All” might have been a better title for this playful look at the many critters that feast on Maine’s famous berry: starting with caterpillars and bees, and escalating up the size ladder to snakes (who knew?), porcupines, foxes, deer, bears (_that_ we did know!) and even moose. Rebecca Rule’s prose is catchy while avoiding the dreaded rhyming doggerel format. Her sentences are short and sweet, filled with internal rhymes and alliteration that will captivate as much as the gentle, beautiful illustrations by Arpita Choudhury. Choudhury, a self-described “lapsed marine biologist,” has infused her digital art with humor, creating animals that are realistic as well as expressive. Special mention goes to the close-up of a moose’s face, its tongue freighted with berries. Rule, a summer resident of Donnell Pond with its neighboring blueberry barrens, has included a page of “juicy facts” about blueberries that will entertain as well as inform. **‘Every Single Day’ by Wendy Ulmer, with art by Clara Anganuzzi** _Best for babies and toddlers_ [](https://w2pcms.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/every_single_day.jpg) A finalist for the 2026 Maine Literary Awards, Arrowsic resident Wendy Ulmer’s “Every Single Day” is a brilliantly simple board book that utilizes her musical background to create a lullaby between parent and child, each stanza enhanced by illustrations of animal parents with offspring, bookended by two human families. The repetitive couplets are both soothing and loving, exactly the kind of book to be read to a child at playtime or bedtime. A momma elephant tells her child: “Every single day, I’ll trace your curvy ear. Every single day, you’ll always know I’m near.” The final rhyme flips the order, giving a lovely sense of finality to the book: “Every single day, we’ll sing and laugh and play. You’ll always know I love you, every single day.” The endearing illustrations by Clara Anganuzzi do justice to the text. **‘ABC Ducks of Deering Oaks Park’ by Jeanine Deas, with art by Andrew Bourassa** [](https://w2pcms.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/ABC-Ducks-of-Deering-Oaks-Park.jpg) _Best for ages 4-7_ These delightful ducks are decidedly and definitely daffy –– it’s hard to halt the alliteration, after reading about Queenie who quacked for hours, Nathan who nabbed the crackers, and (ultimately) Zohran who zigzagged along. You get the idea. This charming little abecedarian ode to Portland’s favorite park is the work of Maine educator Jeanine Deas and Maine artist Andrew Bourassa. “ABC Ducks” proves a little bit of light-hearted literacy can go a long way to making reading rewarding.  _Amy MacDonald is a freelance writer and children’s book author. She lives in Portland._ Copy the Story Link Tagged: [books](https://www.pressherald.com/tag/books/), [children's books](https://www.pressherald.com/tag/childrens-books/)