The Family Of Earth
Lions live in a world of grassy plains. To dolphins, the world is water.  Lush green trees make up gorillas' world. And yet, all these animals share the  same world. This is the point artist Schim Schimmel makes over and over and over  inThe Family of Earth: "The earth may look different to each of us, but  we share only one earth." Through his surrealistic acrylic paintings of  leopards, penguins, hippos, and gorillas, each in their appropriate landscape  (or floating in space with the moon and stars and planet Earth hovering nearby),  the author-illustrator expresses his beliefs about planetary interdependence.  Schimmel describes his paintings as Environmental Visionary Surrealism, and  hopes to change the way readers see the world, with intriguing lines like,  "Leopards do not swim with dolphins. They have never seen a penguin." Although  heavy-handed,The Family of Earthwill appeal to devotees of Schimmel's  earlier environmental picture books,Dear Children of the Earth,Children of the Earth...  Remember. (Ages 4 to 8)--Emilie Coulter