“Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, / the world offers itself to your imagination, / calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting — / over and over announcing your place / in the family of things.” ~ Mary Oliver

Beloved American poet Mary Oliver is well known for her sensitive, pure-hearted observations of the natural world, but did you know she credited her love of nature and poetry with saving her life?

Thanks to Woods & Words: The Story of Mary Oliver by Sara Holly Ackerman and Naoko Stoop (Beach Lane Books, 2025), young readers will learn how a lonely girl survived a difficult childhood by finding refuge in the woods and writing about the wonders she found there. Her lifelong practice of walking in the wild and treating poetry as central to her very existence would earn her literary acclaim, but more importantly, the rare status of being a popular, best-selling poet in an otherwise poetry-indifferent age.

We first see young Mary in the woods, crouched in a grass-and-sticks hut she had stitched herself, “noticing” treasures like birdsong, velvet leaves, and “a glittering beam of light.”

Whenever she felt confined by classroom walls, she made the woods her school. There, she wrote, filling stacks of notebooks, alone except for books by favorite poets like Poe, Blake, and Whitman.

The spring after graduating from high school, Mary drove to Steepletop in upstate New York, where she stayed in an old farmhouse where the poet Edna St. Vincent Millay once lived. She helped Edna’s sister organize papers and “wrapped herself in woods and words. What more could she ask for?”

One day, Mary saw a visitor at the kitchen table — it was love at first sight! Mary and Molly became inseparable, capturing the world around them, Mary with her words, Molly with her camera.

They eventually settled in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where Mary continued to walk the woods or along the shore, searching for poems: “There were always poems if you paid attention,” whether under leaves, on the backs of black snakes, or prompted by the sweet or rotten smells she encountered. She carried a pocket notebook and stashed pencils in trees so she’d always be ready.

Though Mary occasionally worked at a printing company to earn money, she made sure it never interfered with her writing. Some of her poems appeared in magazines, while others were bound and sold in Molly’s bookshop. Even after Mary had published books and won a big prize for her poetry, some critics panned her work, calling it “ordinary,” “humdrum,” or with “too many animals.” One even questioned her use of the word “beautiful.”

But Mary remained steadfast, writing what she liked, the truth as she saw it. Poems didn’t have to be fancy; they were for “everyone, best served plain.” She turned everything into a poem: a muskrat biting her thumb, a grasshopper lapping up cake frosting on her plate. She wrote about her dogs, too, and people loved her work. In the satisfying life she carved out for herself — a home built of woods and words — she continued to discover “what else and where else a poem could be.”

Ackerman’s gentle, lyrical storytelling echoes Oliver’s poetic sensibility and readers will be inspired by Mary’s perseverance, dedication, and singular passion for writing. Her reflections on the flora and fauna she encountered on a daily basis were a song of praise for the world she loved.

Naoko Stoop’s sweet and winsome illustrations, rendered in acrylics, gouache, pastels, pencil, ink and finished digitally, complement and illuminate Ackerman’s text. The scenes of a solitary Mary in her natural element feel calm and peaceful, making it easy for readers to envision the poet watching, reflecting, appreciating, and reveling in every small miracle unfolding before her.

Kids will enjoy pointing to the charming wild animals with whom Mary felt a special kinship. Who would not be thrilled to have foxes, deer, squirrels, raccoons, and seagulls as your daily companions? I especially like the spreads of Mary in the woods “wrapped” in a swirl of hand-drawn words, and the autumnal scene showing people of all ages and skin tones reading Mary’s poetry.

With a beautiful pairing of author and illustrator, Woods & Words is a soothing read and an appealing introduction to Mary Oliver’s life and work, a quiet space to dwell in very busy, screen-centric times.

Back matter includes an Author’s Note and Selected Sources.

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WOODS & WORDS: The Story of Poet Mary Oliver
written by Sara Holly Ackerman
illustrated by Naoko Stoop
published by Beach Lane Books, April 2025
Picture Book Biography for ages 4-8, 40pp.

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Lovely and talented poet, author and anthologist Irene Latham is hosting the Roundup at Live Your Poem. Be sure to check out the full menu of poetic goodness being shared around the blogosphere this week. Happy December and Happy Holidays!

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*Interior spreads text copyright © 2025 Sara Holly Ackerman, illustrations © 2025 Naoko Stoop, published by Beach Lane Books. All rights reserved.

**Copyright © 2025 Jama Rattigan of Jama’s Alphabet Soup. All rights reserved.