Tag: picture book

Perfect Picture Book Friday – Mowing

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How awesome is it that it’s Friday?! 🙂

Before I share my perfect picture book for today, I’d like to take this opportunity to announce that this will be the last official Perfect Picture Book Friday until September.  As you all know, I put PPBF on hiatus for the summer.  Between my own unpredictable schedule and the fact that many of you spend less time online in the summer, it just seems to make sense to take a break.  But for those of you who are dedicated (and there is a core group of you – you are wonderful!) I look forward to seeing what you’ll share.

Would You Read It Wednesday will continue through June and July (I usually take a complete blogging break in August because really… how much of me do you all really want to have to pay attention to?! 🙂 ), and you never know what other high jinx I might get up to if I get a hair brained scheme out of the blue…

Anyway, onto today’s choice!

Apparently all I can think about this week is baby deer 🙂

So in about 14 seconds you’ll understand why I chose this week’s Perfect Picture Book 🙂

Mowing
Written By:  Jessie Haas
Illustrated By:  Jos. A. Smith
Greenwillow Books, 1994, Fiction
Suitable For: ages 4-8

Themes/Topics: farms, grandparents, generations, modernization, respect for wildlife, vehicles

Opening:  “Early in the morning Gramp and Nora go to the field to mow.  They hear the cry of the bobolink, the swish of the tall grass, the thud of the horses’ hooves.
At the edge of the field Gramp lowers the cutter bar.
“Hop off, Nora,” he says.  “You’ll be safer on the ground.”  Gramp speaks softly to the horses.  “Giddap!”  They walk, and the mowing machine begins to clatter.”

Brief Synopsis:  Just as morning is peeking over the horizon, Gramp and Nora head out to mow the hay.  Gramp drives an old-fashioned sickle bar mower with Nora in his lap holding the reins.  When they reach the field, it’s Nora’s job to hop down and keep an eye out for any little animal that might be injured by the horses or the cutter blades.  What does she see?  (I’m betting you can guess one thing she sees! :))  When the mowing is done, two tall islands of grass still stand.  Gramp says some would call that a bad job of mowing, but he and Nora know better.  They know they have taken care to leave the animals safe and protected.

Links To Resources: Fawn Coloring Page 1, Fawn Coloring Page 2, Fawn Facts, National Geographic Groundhog Facts, National Geographic Killdeer Facts.  Talk about the difference in the way hay is mowed today.  Talk about other situations where you might want to be respectful of wildlife.

Why I Like This Book:  This is the kind of sweet, quiet book that I absolutely love.  My kids loved it too, and we read it over and over and over.  The language is gentle, the story is simple with that nostalgic feel of hearkening back to a different time, and the message of caring for all the creatures who share our world is lovely.  On top of that, the art is just beautiful, particularly the way the artist captured the changing light, from dawn through late afternoon, and the different perspectives he uses.  It’s a wonderful book for nap time, bedtime, or anytime kids need to unwind.

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!!! 🙂

 

Perfect Picture Book Friday – H Is For Haiku: A Treasury Of Haiku From A To Z

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Happy June, Everyone!

Did you all say “Rabbit! Rabbit! Rabbit!” this morning? 🙂

I apologize for not being here for Perfect Picture Books last week! (…but I’m sure you all had tons of fun without me! 🙂 )

Today, I’m honored to have a very special book to share.  I hope you will all get a chance to read it at some point.  It is well worth it!

It’s not often we get to know the personal backstory of a book, so it’s a special treat to know where there one has its origins.

The publication of this book is the culmination of a decades-long dream.  The author, Sydell Rosenberg, was a public school teacher in New York City and a charter member of the Haiku Society of America.  She wrote haiku for children that reflected her urban surroundings and sensibilities and were universal and timeless as well.  After her death, her daughter, Amy, determined to see Syd’s dream of publishing a book of children’s haiku become reality.  The result is this book.  Lovely.  Delightful.  Thought-provoking.  Full of Syd’s perceptive view of the world.

H IS FOR HAIKU BOOK COVER PENNY CANDY BOOKS March 2018

Title: H Is For Haiku: A Treasury Of Haiku From A To Z

Written By: Sydell Rosenberg

Illustrated By: Sawsan Chalabi

Penny Candy Books, April 2018, haiku/poetry

Suitable For Ages: listed for Kindergarten – Grade 6, but a book all ages can enjoy!

Themes/Topics: moments that make up life, poetry (haiku)

Opening: “Adventures over
the cat sits in the fur ring
of his tail, and dreams.”

Screen Shot 2018-05-31 at 11.25.39 AM

Text copyright Sydell Rosenberg, 2018, illustration copyright Sawsan Chalabi, 2018

Brief Synopsis: One haiku for each letter of the alphabet describes the little moments and details that make up every day life.

Links To Resources: an author’s forward defines haiku and describes how to write them; write your own haiku – or expand on that by thinking of a theme and writing a group of haiku that go together (e.g. “springtime”, “water”, “forest animals”, or “apple-picking”); illustrate your haiku!

Screen Shot 2018-05-31 at 11.26.28 AM

text copyright Sydell Rosenberg, 2018, illustration copyright Sawsan Chalabi, 2018

Why I Like This Book: I don’t just like this book.  I love it.  Each of the haiku is its own little moment or detail, something that rings so true you can’t help but feel its resonance in your own experience.  It’s the kind of book that makes you stop and take notice.  And isn’t that a valuable reminder for us all?  To live in the present and notice all the little things around us?  To be sure not to miss what’s right before our eyes?  The language is beautiful, articulate, and accessible.  Young or old, readers will enjoy these tiny nuggets of truth.  I chose two of my favorites from the book to show above in the illustrations 🙂 but they’re all wonderful!  The art is bold and fun, and a perfect complement to the poems.

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!!! 🙂

 

Perfect Picture Book Friday – Flap Your Wings

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Happy Perfect Picture Book Friday, Everyone!

My house has a little roofed porch over the front door.

We never use the front door, mind you, but the little porch is excellent for hanging Christmas lights on, and it provides two lovely little sheltered spots for bird nests.  For years, every spring, we had bird families raising their babies.

But along came a year when the porch had to be cleaned and painted in August, and the painter removed the empty nests and cleaned the little sheltered spots thoroughly…

…and the birds didn’t come back 😦

For 3 years, there have been no nests in the little porch and I have missed them.

But lo and behold, look who showed up this week 🙂

bird nest

Maybe it’s silly, but it makes me happy to see them again.

So today, for my Perfect Picture Book, I chose a book about a nest 🙂

It’s an older book – one I read as a child so that will give you a hint as to just how old! 🙂 – and is one of my All Time Favorites!

Flap Your Wings

Written & Illustrated By: P.D. Eastman

Random House, 1969, Fiction

Suitable For: ages 3-8

Themes/Topics: assumptions, non-traditional family, unconditional love, responsibility

Opening: (this is actually the first three pages.)

“An egg lay in the path.

A boy came down the path.  He saw the egg.  “Someone might step on that egg and break it,” he said.

He looked around.

He saw flamingos and frogs, and turtles and alligators.  “Whose egg is this?” he called.  But no one answered.”

Brief Synopsis:  A little boy finds an egg.  He doesn’t want it to get damaged, so he looks around until he finds the nest and carefully puts it back.  When Mr. and Mrs. Bird come home, they are surprised to find an egg in their nest… it wasn’t there when they left!  But Mr. Bird says that if an egg is in their nest it must be their egg, so they must take care of it.  So they do… with very surprising results!

Links To Resources:  Ideas And Activities For Guided Reading, Incubation & Embryology Activities, use with An Egg Is Quiet (from PPBF link list), talk about what kind of animals, insects and reptiles lay eggs and how the eggs are the same and different.

Why I Like This Book:  This book is fun to read as a picture book, but is also an I Can Read type book that is very accessible to new readers.  The pictures are delightful – Mr. and Mrs. Bird’s expressions are very entertaining.  But I really love the story because it doesn’t go where you would expect.  It’s funny.  And it’s a great example of what agents, editors and reviewers mean when they talk about re-readability.  This book delighted me as a child, and delighted my children in their turn.  I’ve read it so many times that even now, years since I last read it to my kids, I can recite almost the whole book.  It’s fun every time 🙂

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 if you’re in the Millbrook area, come visit the me and all my fabulous author and illustrator friends at the Millbrook Literary Festival! 🙂 )

Perfect Picture Book Friday – Hello Lighthouse

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It’s Perfect Picture Book Friday and not a moment too soon!

Although at first glance this book may appear to have nothing to do with Mother’s Day (coming up the day after tomorrow), if you read it you’ll see that is does indeed have a connection… 🙂

lighthouse

Title: Hello Lighthouse

Written & Illustrated By: Sophie Blackall

Little, Brown Books For Young Readers, April 2018, fiction

Suitable For Ages: 4-8

Themes/Topics: lighthouses, history, family

Opening: “On the highest rock of a tiny island
at the edge of the world stands a lighthouse.
It is built to last forever.
Sending its light out to sea,
guiding the ships on their way.

From dusk to dawn the lighthouse beams.
Hello!
…Hello!
…Hello!
Hello, Lighthouse!”

Brief Synopsis: The daily life of a lighthouse keeper and his family unfolds as he cares for a lighthouse that stands on the edge of the world, beaming its light across the waves to keep ships safe through dark, storms, and fog.

Links To Resources: the back of the book is full of interesting additional information about lighthouses and their keepers; read along with The Little Red Lighthouse And The Great Gray Bridge by Hildegard Swift and see how the lighthouses are the same and how they are different; make your own lighthouse;

lighthouse1

text and illustration copyright Sophie Blackall 2018

Why I Like This Book: Any of you who have hung around this blog for any length of time know that I love Nantucket and have visited many times since I was a year old.  I learned to walk there, as a matter of fact 🙂  So it’s probably not much of a surprise that I have a fondness for lighthouses, especially Brant Point, Great Point, and Sankaty 🙂  I love this book because it gives the feel of the courage and loneliness of the lighthouse and its keeper as well as a glimpse of a job that had such historical significance but is now obsolete.  The art is gorgeous and takes you right to the beach and the ocean and the wide open sky, the wind and fog, the sunshine and storms.  I love all the little extras – the undersides of the clouds that look like flying birds, the little seaside knickknacks, the play lighthouse lantern in the child’s hand at the end that is a replica of the real lighthouse in the story.  The text has a lovely cadence to it that is a delight to read aloud.  All around a wonderful book!

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!!! 🙂

 

Perfect Picture Book Friday – The Busy Life of Ernestine Buckmeister

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Hurray!  It’s Perfect Picture Book Friday!

And not a moment too soon! 🙂

Today’s choice is as much for parents and teachers as it is for kids!

And busy, busy life is how I feel this week!, so, the perfect picture book 🙂

ernestine

Title: The Busy Life Of Ernestine Buckmeister
Written By: Linda Ravin Lodding
Illustrated By: Suzanne Beaky
Flashlight Press, October 2011, Fiction
Suitable For: ages 5 and up
Themes/Topics: the importance of play, over-scheduling
Opening: “Each morning, while Ernestine ate breakfast and Nanny O’Dear prepared lunch, Ernestine’s father zoomed out to work and called, ‘Live life to the fullest, Ern!’  And each morning Ernestine’s mother zipped out to catch the bus and said, ‘Make every moment count, E!‘”

Brief synopsis: Ernestine’s parents want her to have every experience she can, so they pack her days with sculpting and tuba,  yoga and yodeling.  It takes Ernestine to show them that one thing she absolutely shouldn’t miss is having time to just play.

Links to resources:  What I really should say here is, “No resources!  Just go play!”  But here are some resources that are also playing 🙂  Coloring Page, and for activities, try making a daisy crown (or any kind of outdoorsy crown), or make clouds out of cotton or shaving cream and see what shapes you see in them, or build a fort out of sticks, or blocks, or an empty cardboard box.  Use you imagination!

ernestine 2

text copyright Linda Ravin Lodding 2011, illustration copyright Suzanne Beaky 2011

Why I Like This Book:  Kids will enjoy Ernestine’s ridiculous schedule, her amusing list of lessons, her teachers’ funny names, the bold bright colors of the pictures, and Ernestine’s inspired solution to her problem.  As a grown-up, I appreciate Ernestine’s message that while organized activities arranged and taught by adults have their place, so too does the unstructured time to be a child and simply play.

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!!! 🙂

Perfect Picture Book Friday – Baby Animals

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We made it, folks!  TGIF!

So guess what?

It turns out I have actual psychic powers!

Remember that baby horse I said could be born on April 25?

Well, just minutes after midnight (around 12:23 AM) it actually was!

Look how beautiful! – a brand new filly (and for those of you who weren’t raised in a barn, that means a girl 🙂 )

Isn’t she just the cutest thing ever???!!! 🙂

Also big, strong, healthy, and full of beans! – a regular little firecracker sure to keep us (and her mama) on our toes! 🙂

Just wanted to let you know, since I promised I would 🙂

Now then, onto my Perfect Picture Book!  In light of springtime and the new baby in our barn, I thought what better than a book about baby animals?

baby animals

Title: Baby Animals (Explore My World Series)

Written By: Marfe Ferguson Delano

Photography Editor: Lori Epstein

National Geographic Children’s Books, July 2015, nonfiction

Suitable For Ages: 3-7

Themes/Topics: baby animals, nonfiction

Opening: “Look, a baby!
Some babies snuggle on snowy sheets of ice.”

Screen Shot 2018-04-26 at 9.54.39 PM

copyright National Geographic 2015

Brief Synopsis:  A look at a day in the life of lots of baby animals – how they move, eat, bathe and sleep, what they’re called, and where they live.

Links To Resources: The book itself is a resource, full of information and gorgeous photographs; make a list of baby animals who live near you (in your yard, or a nearby park); draw a picture of a baby animal; discuss how baby people are like baby animals and how they’re different.

Screen Shot 2018-04-26 at 9.11.48 PM

copyright National Geographic 2015

Why I Like This Book: The text is simple, interesting, and informative, sure to engage young animal lovers, but it’s the photographs that really sell the book to me 🙂  What’s not to love about gorgeous pictures of adorable baby animals? 🙂

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!!! 🙂

 

Perfect Picture Book Friday – Be Quiet!

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Woo hoo!  It’s Perfect Picture Book Friday!

And in my continuing quest for laughs this week, I’ve got a fun one to share! 🙂

be quiet

Title: Be Quiet

Written & Illustrated By: Ryan T. Higgins

Disney-Hyperion, April 2017, fiction

Suitable For Ages: 5-6

Themes/Topics: humor

Opening: “FINALLY!  I get my very own book to star in.  This is going to be great!
I’m going to make it a wordless book.  They are very artistic.
This book will have NO WORDS at all.  Starting…NOW.”

Brief Synopsis: Rupert the mouse is thrilled at the prospect of creating his very own book!  It will be wordless, because wordless books are so artistic.  But his chatty little friends, Thistle and Nibbs, show up and suddenly a wordless picture book seems way more difficult…and Rupert ends up just as guilty as his friends!

Links To Resources: draw your own wordless picture book; play Cat ‘n’ Mouse (hide ‘n’ seek) and practice being as quiet as a mouse so the cat doesn’t find you!

Screen Shot 2018-04-19 at 9.09.42 PM

text and illustration copyright Ryan T. Higgins 2017

Why I Like This Book: I like this book because it’s just flat out funny 🙂 and sometimes that’s just what young readers (and grown-up ones 🙂 ) need!  Poor Rupert has a plan (which even he has a little trouble with 🙂 ) to star in a wordless picture book… but his friends,Thistle and Nibbs, intending only to be helpful, foil him at every turn and send Rupert into a frenzy until he’s hopping up and down, anything but wordless!  Thistle and Nibbs are delightfully oblivious in their wish to help out, and young readers will get a kick out of watching the steam of outrage build and build in Rupert until the inevitable explosion.  Like all of Ryan T. Higgins’s books, this one is sure to make you laugh out loud!

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!!! 🙂

Perfect Picture Book Friday – A Leaf Can Be

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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!!! 🙂

daffodil

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!)

leaf

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 🙂 )

 

Perfect Picture Book Friday – My Side Of The Car

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Good Friday to you, folks!

In case anyone is wondering, it’s snowing again!  I think there’s a trainee in charge of Spring this year who must have misread the job description!

As luck would have it, since it’s snowing, I have to drive to New York City today… which makes me think of cars… which makes me think of this book!  Perfect for cars and inclement weather 🙂

Ready?  Fasten your seat belts because here we go! 🙂

My Side Of The Car
Written By: Kate Feiffer
Illustrated By: Jules Feiffer
Candlewick, April 2011, Fiction
Suitable For: ages 4-8

Themes/Topics: patience, imagination, father-daughter love, optimism

Opening:  “My dad and I are going to the zoo.  We’ve tried to go to the zoo before.  But we never get there.  Something always happens.”

Brief Synopsis:  Sadie and her dad are going to the zoo.  Their plans have been thwarted three previous times, but this time they’re really going.  Except… on the way… it starts to rain.  They can’t go to the zoo in the rain.  But Sadie’s not about to let the fact that her dad sees rain deter her.  “I look out my window, and the sun is shining on my side of the car. People are putting on their sunglasses and heading to zoos all over the world on my side of the car.” While her dad sees nothing but rain, Sadie sees people mowing their laws and eating ice cream.  Is it raining or not?  Will Sadie and her dad get to the zoo this time or will they have to wait for another day?

Links To Resources:  Fun Zoo-Related Activities, Zoo Lessons And Activities, a page in the back of the book tells the true story of what happened (which is always fun :))

Why I Like This Book:  Anyone who has lived with kids knows that their perception of reality is not necessarily the same as yours… especially when they really want something! 🙂  What’s wonderful about this book is both Sadie’s determined optimism and her father’s patience and his loving understanding of how she needs to cope with her disappointment.  This book is also delightful because it’s written and illustrated by a father-daughter team about an incident that actually happened.  I’m not going to tell you whether they get to the zoo or not, though.  You’ll have to go read the book 🙂

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!

Now then.  I’m going to be like Sadie and see nothing but sunshine and daffodils on my side of the car!  No snow! 🙂

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!!! 🙂

 

Perfect Picture Book Friday – The Almost Terrible Playdate

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It’s Perfect Picture Book Friday, practically Easter, and soon-to-be April!

That sounds great all around 🙂

May I offer you some jelly beans or a chocolate bunny? 🙂

I realized that I hadn’t updated the master Perfect Picture Book list on my website in a while (er… that was because I totally forgot a) how to do it and b) that I had to do it – I had somehow convinced myself it was automatic! 🙂 ) so anyone who wants to have a look will have the happy surprise that there are now over 900 books on the list instead of the paltry 400 that were there last week 🙂  And thanks to you guys and your excellent form-filling-out abilities, many of them have themes listed!  So feel free to check it out and share it!  Perfect Picture Books (website page) and The LIST itself on google docs (search instructions for those who need them on the Perfect Picture Book page.)

(And I have to apologize for the fact that the “master list” is really only the books listed since I moved to wordpress.  The original couple thousand books from blogger have yet to be added because I never seem to have enough time!  I must make myself add 5 a day until they’re done or something!)

Any hoo…!

I have a tons-of-fun book to share today that I hope you’ll all love!

Title: The Almost Terrible Playdate

Written & Illustrated By: Richard Torrey

Doubleday Books For Young Readers, February 16, 2016, Fiction

Suitable For Ages: 3-7

Themes/Topics: friendship, compromise, getting along, imagination

Opening: “What do you want to play?”

“What do you want to play?”

“How about I’m the queen of the universe and my doll, Pippy, is my sister queen, and you visit my castle?”

“Or how about I’m the giantest dinosaur ever and you’re a dinosaur too – but not the giantest – and we stomp around smashing stuff?”

Brief Synopsis: A girl and a boy with active imaginations each have very different ideas about what makes a fun game.  Will the afternoon end with two kids playing alone on opposite sides of the room, or will they find something that is fun for both of them?

Links To Resources: Class Compromise Activity for grades 3, 4 & 5 – Planning A Class Party; let your child or student draw a picture of what they think would be a fun game to play; discuss the meaning of compromise and the importance of getting along – what would happen if everyone insisted on getting his/her own way?  Give examples of situations where people might have to compromise and have kids discuss how it could be handled, for example if one child wants to go to the zoo and the other wants to go to the playground, or how to plan a family picnic that will be fun for a variety of interests, etc.

Why I Like This Book: This is a delightful story, told completely through dialogue and illustration (a good mentor text for writers who are working on similar stories.)  The writing is spare and there is no written narrative – it’s all a conversation.  The girl is completely sure that her idea is best, her game the most fun…and not surprisingly it gives her the starring role.  The boy is equally convinced that his totally different idea is best, his game the most fun…and not surprisingly it gives him the starring role 🙂  Anyone who has ever spent time around kids will recognize this dynamic.  The children’s imaginative descriptions grow more and more elaborate as they try to convince each other, but it is not to be.  Before long the girl is playing her game, and the boy is playing his.  But they are side by side… sneaking glances at each other… ultimately unable to resist their curiosity about each other’s games and the allure of having someone to play with, not just next to.  The resolution is just right – very believable – and brings young readers full circle.  But one of the best things about this book is the art!  Childlike crayon drawings depicting the imagined games – SO much fun, and not to be missed!

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 Happy Easter and Happy Passover to all who celebrate!