Nature's Friend is an inspiring story about an artist Gwen Frostic and her love for art and nature. She had physical disestablishes but with the support of her mother, she never let that hold her back. This book is great for children studying art in nature and even provides ideas for art projects. ( )

Highly recommended for: those who love and appreciate nature, could benefit from reading about disabilities-abilities, want to read about women in history, young artists and those who like to read about artists, anyone wanting to read a book about someone living their life with determination & persistence.

I can’t believe I’ve never heard of Gwen Frostic before I’d heard of this book. She’s inspirational.

This is a lovely picture book biography about a girl and then woman who became disabled due to a childhood illness but went on to do all sorts of things, including doing artwork inspired by the natural world.

The entire book is enchanting. Beautiful pictures. Quotes from Gwen. And engaging almost lifelong biography. Interesting additional information in the back (I’d love to visit her shop and see everything and buy some cards) and even an art project the reader/listener can do.

This book made me want to go out and experience nature, preferably with a dog. ( )

Despite the disabilities arising from an early childhood illness, Gwen Frostic was encouraged by her mother to be as independent as possible, and was (unlike so many disabled children in early 20th-century America) sent to school. She first picked up art supplies as part of an effort to strengthen her hands, but soon she was using them to create beautiful things. In art school she learnt about linoleum block printing, and she would use this medium to capture the beauty of the natural world in her artwork, stationary and books. In the 1950s she founded her own independent printing company and stationary business, opening up a shop in Frankfurt, Michigan. Eventually, in the 1960s, she moved her business to a building of her own design, far out in the country. Despite the warnings of the naysayers, her rural printing workshop and stationary store became a destination, and was a great success. It is still in business today, long after her death in 2001...

I almost exclaimed aloud in surprise and delight when I happened upon Nature's Friend: The Gwen Frostic Story today at work! My entire extended family, for four generations, has vacationed in the Frankfurt area, and I have many happy memories of summers spent in the locale. Quite a few of my relatives loved the area so much, that they are now permanent, year-round residents. No trip to Michigan is ever complete without a visit to Gwen Frostic's workshop and store, and her cards, wrapping papers, table-wear and books have been a ubiquitous part of my family's life as far back as I can recall. No Christmas has ever passed without a present wrapped in Gwen Frostic paper. No special dinner or get-together occurs without Gwen Frostic napkins making an appearance. Her famous raccoon design is favored by my sister, whereas I am known to favor her green and white wrapping paper and her turtle stickers. All of which is to say: Gwen Frostic's work is intertwined with my family's life, over the course of more than one generation. I was never lucky enough to meet her, as a girl, and I'm not sure about my parents, but I know that my grandparents and great aunts and uncles did.

Given all of this, it was probably a foregone conclusion that I would find author Lindsey McDivitt and illustrator Eileen Ryan Ewen's book appealing. Of course, even leaving aside the personal significance of the subject matter for me, this is still an excellent work of picture-book biography, one which pairs an engaging and informative text with appealing artwork. I never knew that Frostic was disabled - apparently her symptoms, as a girl, were quite similar to those of cerebral palsy patients - nor did I know that she had exhibited her work at the World's Fair in New York in 1939, or designed the building in which her Michigan workshop and store were housed. Her feelings of connection to nature were something already familiar to me, given the subject matter of so many of her books, and so much of her art, but it still was interesting to see it discussed in McDivitt's text and depicted in Ewen's illustrations. A wonderful book, this is one I would recommend to those looking for picture-book biographies featuring artists, disabled children and/or environmental activists, as well as to those looking for children's stories with local Michigan interest. ( )