BEIRUT: At a ceremony for the release of her new environmental children’s book, author Salma Nashabe Talhouk offered signed copies to the younger members of the audience, and cocktails for their parents. The book, titled Nature’s ABCs, is intended to increase environmental awareness among children and their parents.
During the ceremony, Talhouk told The Daily Star that she wanted to do something for children in Arabic, where “I link the ABCs of nature, and every letter is linked to an ecological concept. For example, instead of F being for fish, it will be for fog, and the idea is for the child to see the drawing or picture I made. Then there is a little explanation that the parents read of how fog benefits humans, for example.”
She noted that most people don’t know the environmental concepts behind every picture, saying, “It is all about ecosystem services, as in the services that nature provides for us. Each alphabetical letter [corresponds to] something from nature and living organisms, and I explain its benefits in simplified Arabic,” the author continued.
“The child learns the letters, and as he grows he can read it.”
“Trying to see how to create harmony between people and nature is the aim of the book, in addition to showing the role of animals,” she said, adding that she wanted to help her readers “to understand the various concepts of nature. … Each component of nature has its own role on earth.”
Talhouk is a faculty member in the department of plant sciences at the American University of Beirut (AUB), where she specializes in nature conservation. She also undertakes outreach activity on behalf of the AUB nature conservation center.
A salesman for Arab Scientific Publishers, Inc. told The Daily Star it is an “interesting book about the benefits of the environment,” adding that “it teaches Arabic in a time when Arabic is a dying language.”
He said that the book has been out for two months, and will be distributed in libraries and book fairs.
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