Happy Friday, Folks!
Remember on Wednesday when I said I was looking forward to daffodils?
Well, guess what?
Yesterday I took my dad to New York City for cataract surgery and in all the little square “gardens” planted around trees along one of the sidewalks on 64th Street there were…
…wait for it…
DAFFODILS!!! 🙂
They’re like a little drops of captured sunshine, aren’t they? 🙂
So I chose the perfect picture book to capture feeling springy 🙂
(and yes, I’ve done it before, but I love it and I was pressed for time due to the aforementioned trip to NYC!)
Title: A Leaf Can Be
Written By: Laura Purdie Salas
Illustrated By: Violetta Dabija
Millbrook Press, February 2012, Fiction based on fact
Suitable For: ages 3-8
Themes/Topics: nature, seasons, poetry
Opening: “A leaf is a leaf
It bursts out each spring
when sunny days linger
and orioles sing.
A leaf can be a…
soft cradle
water ladle
Sun taker
Food maker…”
Brief Synopsis: a simple rhyming story that shows all the many things a leaf can be.
Links To Resources: the back of the book has lots of facts about leaves, showing how they can be all the things mentioned in the book. There is also a small glossary. Take a walk and see how many different kinds of leaves you can find. What could your leaves be used for? Leaf Activities. What else can you look at in different ways?
Why I Like This Book: The quietness of this book encourages children to really think about all the different things leaves can be and in turn encourages children to stretch their imaginations about how other everyday objects might be used in different ways. The poetry is gentle with pretty images. The information in the back adds a lot to the learning potential of the book. And the art in this book is absolutely luminous. It just glows. It is the perfect art for the text making for an altogether magical reading experience.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do 🙂
For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.
PPBF folks, please add your titles and post-specific links (and any other info you feel like filling out 🙂 ) to the form below so we can all come see what fabulous picture books you’ve chosen to share this week!
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!!! 🙂
(and have some cake on me 🙂 )
Susanna Leonard Hill 
Susanna, I love daffodils. Each spring, I get excited to see them emerge in my yard, surrounded by crocuses and mini purple irises. I always cross my fingers and hope we don’t get a super hard freeze. Love this book, too.
Maria, every year I promise myself I’m going to plant crocuses in the fall so that in late March when you think spring is never coming they’ll pop up in the sheltered sunny places and be encouraging 🙂 But somehow I always miss that moment between cold enough not to start coming up but before the first frost to plant them!
A perfect choice for those of us tired of winter and snow. Spring is showing its face. Such a beautiful spring read for children. I love the cover
Me too, Pat! Isn’t it just so lovely and green?! 🙂
I just love this whole series. They make me want to sigh with happiness.
Me too, Joanna – so perfectly written! Some of those “wish I wrote it” books 🙂
Our daffies are still buds waiting to open. Maybe today? So happy you could find those little drops of sunshine in the City.
It was a lovely treat, Sue! Up on Blueberry Hill it looks like spring will never come…we are currently experiencing sleet and freezing rain, and the back deck is covered in ice. But we’re halfway through April… it’s got to get warm sometime, doesn’t it?! 🙂
Sending prayers that the cataract surgery went smoothly and all will be well with your dad.
Daffodils! My favorite flower! And I love Laura’s book…thanks for sharing it, Susanna…I’ll have to get a copy out again to see how she weaves the different rhymes and rhythms.
Thanks, Vivian! The surgery is over and seems to have gone well. You had eye surgery recently, so you probably know all about the endless eye-drop regime! 🙂 Enjoy re-reading Laura’s book(s)!
A perfect choice for a finally spring day! Hope all went well for your dad’s surgery.
Thanks, Patricia! And it was lovely both Friday and Saturday, wasn’t it? Such a treat before the current ice storm…! 🙂 (And thanks for your good wishes!)
Thank you, Susanna! I love spring flowers. My crocuses are blooming. They don’t last long so I’m enjoying them.. The book sounds wonderful! Hope all went well for your Dad.
Ooh, I love crocuses, Carol! (See my comment to Maria above 🙂 ) Are yours purple or white? I love the purple! Hope you’ll get a chance to read Laura’s book, and thanks for your good wishes for Dad!
I have dark purple, white, yellow and light purple striped crocuses. At this point I don’t know if they will survive being pounded by wind, rain and freezing rain. Our weather took a turn for the worse!
Thanks, Susanna, for bringing out some green! We’ve had big snow here in Minneapolis this weekend:>) Hope your dad’s surgery went well!
My pleasure, Laura! I love your books! Not just the picture books – I give away your craft books as prizes in my writing contests all the time 🙂 We had two lovely days of sunshine… and now it’s ice storming! But time is on our side, right? Thanks for your good wishes for Dad!
Oh, that cover has totally sold me. Beautiful!