Day 240: Beautiful Oops!

Beautiful Oops! has been on my library list for probably a good two years now, as it has been incredibly hard to find for some reason.  Either it is always out (and reasonably so), or not every library has it in its collection (which, now that I have read and LOVED it, I can say would be a travesty.) My kids and I absolutely love the creative message of Peter H. Reynolds' Ish and The Dot, and Beautiful Oops! delivers an equally inspiring message about creativity, perseverance, and finding beauty in unlikely places.

Both of my children love creating art, though it wasn't always that way. My son, who is very much a self-imposed perfectionist, resisted drawing for the longest time. I think this was mostly because he had an image in his mind of what he wanted his drawing to look like, but knew that he would be unable to make it look that way. Although we would encourage him to draw anyway and not worry about making mistakes or being perfect, he would scribble a few lines on the page and then say he was done. Eventually, though, he turned the corner and became less concerned about making mistakes. He started creating more and becoming frustrated less, and now I can say that drawing is one of his favorite things to do. Of course, he is still a perfectionist about all kinds of other things, so we are still working on that whole embracing mistakes thing...

But therein lies the beauty of Barney Saltzberg's Beautiful Oops! Its encouraging message to see mistakes as opportunities makes it a perfect book for any little one (or anyone, for that matter.) A torn page? No problem! It can easily become an alligator's mouth. A spill or a smudge? A fold or a crumple? No worries! Turn it into something fun, silly, or beautiful! I absolutely love the way this book encourages us to think positively and creatively while appreciating the fact that things need not be perfect to be beautiful.

So, if you can manage to get your hands on a copy of this fabulous book, please do! We promise you won't be disappointed. Happy reading (and creating!)

 

Day 220: Leaf Man

We've been in all-out leaf tackle mode here for the past few weeks, and have raked our entire yard no fewer than 5 times already.  As much as I love nature and the outdoors, I'll be honest -- I wouldn't mind if we lost a few of the oak trees in our yard.  The leaves are a great source of entertainment for my kids, of course, and they've had endless fun jumping in leaf piles, "helping" us rake, and racing around the tracks we rake amidst the blanket of leaves that cover the yard.  We've enjoyed collecting leaves of all kinds, as well, whether we set out to see how many vibrant colors we can find or simply go on a nature walk to see how many different types of leaves there are in our neighborhood.  The leaves are just about all down now, but our fun has continued this week after we found this fabulous book at the library!

Lois Ehlert's artwork is always colorful, engaging, and fun, and Leaf Man is no exception.  The story itself is simple -- a leaf man blows away, over marshes, fields, meadows, and mountains, going wherever the wind takes him -- but the die cut pages and clever artwork make for a great deal of creative fun.  All of Ehlert's images are composed of real leaves of various kinds, combined to make different shapes and creatures:  turtles, fish and ducks in a pond, squirrels with their acorns, butterflies, and even a garden of pumpkins and squash.  There is also a guide to the types of leaves featured on the book's cover pages, which I just love.  Each colorful page within is cut and sculpted across the top to make the background of the combined pages appear like rolling hills in the distance, and Ehlert's leaf creations are simply fabulous.  They are not always easy to see at first, which is what makes the book so fun to read.  My kids love looking at the illustrations to see what creatures are hiding among them, and I challenge child to read this book and not want to immediately run outside and collect leaves to make creations of his or her own.  My son made leaf creatures for over an hour yesterday afternoon after reading this book, and I had fun joining in the crafting, too.  I was pretty impressed by some of his creations, and, as so often happens when watching kids create, I loved the ease with which he went from one idea to the next.  He came up with creative designs so much faster and easily than I did!  Thanks, Lois Ehlert, for inspiring him to make some fun leaf art!  Here's a sample of some of the leaf creatures he made:

His first design, which he composed while my daughter and I were still out collecting leaves:  It's me, complete with the green scarf I was wearing yesterday

A deer

A bird

A hummingbird (my favorite!)

A poinsettia (I made the flower part at the top, he quickly added a stem and some leaves to make it even better)

The scene on my coffee table while we were creating

A giraffe

An aardvark

And of course, a Thanksgiving turkey

We hope that this book inspires as much fun for you and your little ones as it did for us!  Enjoy!

Day 217: Extra Yarn

I first discovered Extra Yarn a few weeks ago when I spent my heavenly solo afternoon browsing children's books in a local bookshop.  It was one of several books that I read through that day and added to my "library list" as a must find to bring home and read with my kids.  What I really wanted to do was buy my own copy right then and there, but I already had three other books in my purchase pile that would use up my gift card so I had to cut myself off somewhere.  Fortunately, my local library had it when we went last week, and my children and I have loved reading it (multiple times) every day since.

Extra Yarn is a charming, fairy tale-ish story of a young girl, Annabelle, and her magical box of yarn. The beauty of Mac Barnett's words and the brilliance of Jon Klassen's illustrations is obvious from the very first page:

"On a cold afternoon, in a cold little town, where everywhere you looked was either the white of snow or the black of soot from chimneys, Annabelle found a box filled with yarn of every color." She knits herself a sweater, and when she still has yarn left over, makes one for her dog, too.  But even then, she has extra yarn.  Annabelle proceeds to knit sweaters for everyone and everything in town -- even things that don't wear sweaters, like mailboxes, houses, and birds! -- and soon, she and her magic box of yarn have completely transformed the town.  News of Annabelle and her yarn spreads far and wide, and one day, a fashion-loving archduke arrives wanting only one thing:  the magical box of yarn.  He offers her millions of dollars in exchange, but Annabelle always politely refuses.  Furious, he steals her box of yarn and sails back to his castle, only to discover the magic box of yarn empty!   In one last act of magic, Annabelle's box of yarn makes it way across the sea and back to her.

I love the classic feel of this tale and the way the story and the illustrations bring the magic to life on each page, but for a long time, I couldn't quite describe just why I love this book so much.  There is something more to it than simply the fabulous illustrations -- which are truly unique and lovely -- and the wonderful story, itself.  I've since come to realize that what I also love about this book is the warm feeling of optimism that I get when I read it; the idea that one young person and her sweet, quiet determination has the wondrous power to bring happiness and color to an otherwise cold place.  Yes, this book is truly something special.

When I looked up this book so that I could add its picture to this post, I saw that I wasn't the only one who thinks it is really great.  Turns out it is a 2013 Caldecott Honor Book, the winner of the 2013 E.B. White Read-Aloud Award, and the winner of the 2012 Boston Globe - Horn Book Award for Picture Books.  So there you go!  (My local library must have gotten their copy before the awards were given, for no Caldecott sticker graces its cover.)  Needless to say, Extra Yarn quickly moved from our "library list" to our "must own" list.  Now my daughter is asking me to read it to her -- for the third time today -- which I am always more than happy to do.  Enjoy!

Day 216: The Day the Crayons Quit

Last weekend, I had the immense pleasure of browsing in a bookstore all by myself.  I immediately went to the children's section, of course, and spent over an hour picking books off the shelf and reading them at my leisure.  It was wonderful.  I had a gift card to this fabulous little independent bookstore, and I was eager to bring home a few new books for my kids.  I was tempted to get The Circus Ship and a few other titles that are on our "must own"list, but I decided instead to bring home a few fabulous books that we had never read or seen before.  I had heard about The Day the Crayons Quit, and knew as soon as I read it that my kids would absolutely love it.  I could hear my kids giggling as I sat reading this delightful story written by Drew Daywalt and illustrated by Oliver Jeffers, and couldn't wait to get home and read it to them.  It was as big a hit as I thought it would be!

In The Day the Crayons Quit, Duncan opens his box of crayons to color one day and is greeted by a pile of letters, one from each crayon.  Each crayon has taken a moment to tell Duncan how they really feel, and their personalities and voices are fantastic. Red is tired of never having holidays off, orange and yellow aren't speaking to each other because each is convinced he is the true color of the sun, and blue has been used so much he is too stubby to see over the railing of the crayon box anymore.  Black is sick of always being an outline -- is it too much to ask for a black beach ball sometime? -- gray is exhausted from always coloring huge animals like elephants and hippos and humpback whales, and peach crayon has lost all of his paper and is embarrassed to leave the box because he's naked!  Only green seems happy about coloring all of those dinosaurs and trees, though he can't wait for yellow and orange to finally settle their dispute.  All Duncan wants to do is color, but he wants his crayons to be happy.  What can he do?  The story has an adorable ending and I just love the creativity it inspires.  My husband and I enjoy reading it just as much as our children do, and we have yet to read it just once in a sitting.

If you're looking for a great, fun new story to read with your child, this one won't disappoint.  Teachers might find reading this story is a great way to introduce voice, point of view, and persuasion in children's writing, not to mention encouraging them to think outside the box with their art and creativity.  This story is definitely going to rank among our favorite books published in 2013, and I'm thrilled it now has a place in our home library.

Buy new at Amazon for just $10.49

by clicking the image above!

Day 203: My Heart Is Like a Zoo

My son picked this book up off the "New Arrivals" shelf at our last library visit, excitedly showed it to me, then immediately ran over to a chair to sit down and read it.  Needless to say, we checked it out and brought it home, and have read it many times since then.  Michael Hall's illustrations are colorful, creative, and engaging, and his short, well-rhyming text makes this book a wonderful one to read with your little one.

As you can probably guess from the cover illustration, the pictures of zoo animals in this book are made up almost exclusively of heart shapes.  The bold, simple design is very clever, and the text includes some great adjectives, as well.

My heart is like a zoo --

Eager as a beaver, 

Steady as a yak,

Hopeful as a hungry heron fishing for a snack...

See how cute these are?

My son, 5, loves the different animals and counting all of the heart shapes he can find within their designs, while my daughter, 2 1/2, loves the animals and pointing to the hearts, too.  My son also loves being able to read it to my daughter himself, which is always cute to see.  The bold, colorful designs and rhyming text would make this a great book to read with babies, as well.  It's currently only available in hardcover from what I can tell, but I wouldn't be surprised if a board book version will be in the works sometime in the future.

I especially love the way this book inspires creativity.  After reading it for the first time, my son said, "We should make our own animals out of hearts!"  He was so excited to create his own creatures using shapes once we got home, and couldn't wait to get started on a peregrine falcon picture.  He told me which animals he wanted to make, and then we brainstormed together about what colors to use and what size hearts we might need.  I just loved watching his creative little mind work!  I include a few pictures of his creations below.

Whether you're a teacher looking for a great art-inspiring book to share with your class or a parent looking for a fun, easy story-themed craft to do with your child, My Heart Is Like a Zoo is the perfect book.  We hope you love it as much as we do!

My son's favorite animal, the peregrine falcon

A butterfly

Crocodile

Poison Dart Frog (inspired by the frog in the book)

Yeti Crab, inspired by Wild Kratts (our favorite show)

 * the red dots on the claws are the bacteria it collects and eats - fascinating!

Day 201: Sky Color

I have always loved art and being creative.  I was disappointed not to have a chance to take art in high school, but I loved music, too, and there just weren't enough classes in the day for me to take band, chorus, and art at the same time.  By my junior year of college, I was feeling a need to let my inner artist come out to play a bit more, so I signed up for a drawing class.  I absolutely loved it, and my final project hangs framed (thanks, Mom!) in my living room to this day.  

My senior year, I took Painting I.  I had never really had much specific instruction in painting techniques, and it ended up being one of my favorite courses of my college career.  My final project for that class was a landscape portrait of Milford Sound in New Zealand, to which I had been the year before while studying abroad.  (It also hangs in my living room. Again, thanks for framing it and convincing me I'd want to keep it forever, Mom!)  It was a beautiful image that depicted streams of sunlight shining through gray clouds on to the towering fjords of the sound.  I remember my professor showing us all, earlier in the semester, about how to blend colors when painting the sky, and depicting the light and warmth and color of that cold, New Zealand sky was my favorite, most challenging part of my final piece.  We've all seen it before; the way the sky looks as storm clouds are gradually being burned off by the sun, whose rays are desperately trying to make their way to the earth below.  It's cold and warm at the same time, with hints of gray and blue and pink and yellow mixing together in an unlikely harmony.  To this day, each time I see a particularly beautiful sunset or color in the sky, I think about how I would paint it.  What colors would I mix to get those hues just right?  How would I create that sky color?

I love all of the books in Peter Reynolds' cleverly titled Creatrilogy:  The Dot, Ish, and now, Sky Color.  My son got this beautiful book in his Easter basket this year, and we absolutely love it.  Like the other books in Reynolds' series, Sky Color inspires all children to embrace their inner artist, be freely and fabulously creative, and to think outside the box.  

If you remember Ish, you'll remember Marisol, the younger sister who saves all of her brother's rejected drawings, cherishing them instead as beautiful works of art.  When she and her classmates set out to paint a mural in the library, Marisol is responsible for painting the sky.  But how can she do that without any blue paint?  

I just love the message of Peter Reynolds' books, and Sky Color is a wonderful story that encourages us to think creatively, appreciate the beauty of the world around us, and view the world from a different perspective.  After you've read it, sit  down with your kids and some paints and challenge yourselves to make your own sky colors.  You might never look at the sky the same way again.  

  

Day 194: The Dot

We're on a big Peter Reynolds kick in our house lately... and loving it!  This is partly due to my son's sudden love of drawing, but also because Reynolds' books are simply fabulous and worthy of reading again and again.  My first encounter with his illustrations was in Someday, written by Alison McGhee, a beautiful book that makes me cry every time I read it.  I discovered The Dot and Ish last year, and they, too, were love at first read.  I've written before about how Ish inspired my son to be more confident about creating his own art, and have been incredibly thankful to have found these books ever since.  A few weeks ago, though, things really clicked and it was as though my son suddenly flipped his artistic switch to "on."  I honestly never thought I'd see the day when he'd want to sit and draw for hours, but now he does.  It's so wonderful to watch.  I got Ish and the Dot out of the library again last week to help keep inspiring his creativity, and was shocked when I realized I hadn't written about the Dot yet!  So without further ado, here's my take on this amazing picture book:

Sitting in her art class, Vashti is convinced she is not an artist.  Frustrated by her blank piece of paper, she isn't afraid to tell her teacher as much: "I just CAN'T draw!"  Smiling sweetly, her teacher gives the perfect, encouraging response:  "Just make a mark and see where it takes you."  Annoyed, Vashti grabs a marker and jabs at her paper, leaving only a dot.  "There!"  Much to her surprise, her teacher asks her to sign it, and Vashti returns to art class the following week to find her dot framed on the wall.  Little does Vashti know how much that one little dot would change her perspective and encourage her to express herself in ways she never thought possible.  

Inspiring and heart-warming, the Dot is an absolutely wonderful story with an even lovelier message.  I just love Reynolds' illustrations, as I do in all of his books, and it's as though I can feel Vashti's creative energy flowing into her work on each page.  I just adore Reynolds' watercolor and pen and ink style and the charming, sweet life it breathes into his illustrations.  He is definitely among our favorite authors and illustrators.

We've all had times in our lives where we're convinced we absolutely can't do something and don't even want to try. The Dot is an empowering, beautiful story that will inspire readers of all ages to believe in themselves, try new things, and see just what they can become if they simply take the chance.   We all have something special to share with the world; we just need to have the courage to make our mark and see where it takes us.

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." 

~ Lao Tzu

Day 193: If I Built A House

In honor of World Read Aloud Day this coming Wednesday, I thought I'd feature our current favorite book to read aloud: If I Built a House.  I can't even begin to tell you how excited we were to discover Chris Van Dusen's latest book on the shelf at the library the other day.  I didn't even know there was going to be a follow-up to the amazingly fabulous If I Built a Car, and I knew -- just KNEW! -- that it was going to be awesome.  And let me just tell you:  it is!  In every possible way!

If you've never read one of Chris Van Dusen's stories, you are seriously missing out!  Pack up the kids and head to your nearest library as soon as you finish reading this to try and track one down.  The Circus Ship, all of the Mr. Magee books (we've already featured Down to the Sea With Mr. Magee and A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee), If I Built a Car, and If I Built a House are some of the absolute BEST stories to read aloud, and I know they are books that my kids will remember fondly and want to read with their own children someday.  Van Dusen's illustrations are incredible -- I just love his bold, unique, retro style -- the story lines are clever, and oh, the rhymes! They are seamlessly crafted, brimming with creativity, and ridiculously fun to read.  If I do say so myself -- and I do -- Van Dusen belongs right alongside Seuss when it comes to brilliant rhyme design.  He's really one of the best there is.

One of my favorite things about If I Built a House (and If I Built a Car) is the way it encourages and captivates children's imaginations.  Now that he's designed his dream car, our favorite young inventor Jack is back, this time, to design the coolest, most amazing house on the block!  I wish I had been able to take pictures of my son's expressions when we read this book for the first time, for each time we turned the page, he beamed with amazement and excitement about what he was seeing. A gravity-free flying room, racetrack room, giant aquarium/water-filled room, living room with trampolines in the floor that lead to a giant ball pit, a bedroom in a tower that's accessible by elevator and giant twisty slide... this house has it all!  My favorite might just be the art room:  "You know how I constantly like to create?  Well, this is my art room.  Isn't it great?  You draw on the wall.  Don't worry, it's cool.  Hung way up high, on a big giant spool, is a huge roll of paper that hangs to the floor.  Just draw till you're done, then pull down some more!"  How incredible would that be?! The self-cooking, dish-cleaning kitchen is pretty amazing, too.  Whenever we read the lines that say, "It makes all the meals and the food is deeelish, Then it washes and puts away every last dish," my son looks at me and says, "That would be your favorite part!"  (Guess it's no secret how much I loathe doing the dishes.)

Be sure to check out the sketches on the inner covers of the book, too.  They show Jack's design from a slightly different point of view, complete with all of the fabulous features and notes on what he wants his house to be like.  This story can't help but spark young (and old!) imaginations, and we always love talking about which cool features and rooms we'd have in our dream house.  I can't wait to read this to my son's preschool class this coming Friday when it's my turn to be the surprise parent "mystery reader."  It's Lego week at his school this week, too, so I can't wait to see what cool creations he and his friends can dream up after reading this story!

Usually, when we discover a book that we really love, I add it to my Amazon wish list or keep a note of it to suggest to family as a gift idea when my kids' birthdays roll around.  Sometimes, though, as is the case with this story, I simply can't wait for a special occasion.  I grab my gift cards and put that book in my Barnes and Noble shopping cart faster than my kids race around the house after dinner.  I'm sure you're well aware of how much I love this book by now, but believe me:  it's one you simply cannot miss.

Day 164: Frederick

I love the feeling of reading a book for the first time and being immediately captivated by the language.  Some authors are truly gifted in their ability to create vivid pictures and evoke tremendous emotion and feeling in their writing, even when using the simplest of language.  They craft their words so beautifully on the page that every once in a while, I almost get choked up reading a line or two.  For me, Barbara Cooney, Donald Hall, and Cynthia Rylant are some such authors that come to mind.  After reading Frederick, I have added Leo Lionni to this list, too.

Frederick tells the story of a family of mice diligently preparing for the winter ahead.  The mice busy themselves collecting corn, nuts, wheat, and straw so that their winter supplies will be plenty.  They work hard day and night -- everyone, that is, except Frederick.  While his frustrated siblings accuse Frederick of being lazy, he assures them that he is actually quite busy doing work of his own.  While the other mice scurry about collecting their necessities, Frederick collects essentials of his own:  sun rays and colors for the cold dark winter days, and perhaps most importantly, words.  "The winter days are long and many," he reminds them, "and we'll run out of things to say."  Time goes by and the snow starts to fall, and although the mice live quite contentedly for awhile, their corn and nuts and berries are soon gone.  They no longer feel like chatting and the mood in the wall has grown sullen.  It is only then that the other mice learn to see and appreciate the value of Frederick's work.  As they close their eyes and listen to him tell about the golden glow of the sun's rays and the bold colors of the red poppies among the yellow wheat, they begin to feel warmer.  Happier.  More alive.  Only then do they truly come to appreciate Frederick for the who he is.  It is sweet and beautiful and heart warming all at once.  The illustrations are wonderful, too! My son loves picking out Frederick on each page, and I love how Lionni was able to create such emotion in the eyes of his collage-crafted mice.  This story is simply beautiful in every way.

Everyone knows a Frederick:  someone whose true gifts all too often go unnoticed or unappreciated.  And let's be honest.  The world needs Fredericks.  We need dreamers and artists and people who aren't afraid to be themselves, even when others might be critical of their differences.  We need people who are willing to take time to stop and smell the flowers, even as the rest of the world rushes by.  No matter what path they ultimately pursue, I hope that my children are always able to see the beauty in the world like Frederick.

Day 155: Ish

I love drawing and doing any kind of art.  My daughter does, too.  She'll sit and color for ages, or at least  until I take her crayons away because she is trying to eat them.  My son, on the other hand, has never cared much for coloring.  He'll do it for a few minutes if the materials are out and available, but usually after a few scribbles he's off and running to the next thing.  I've long suspected that part of his reluctance to draw comes from a sort of perfectionism, though I don't know whether or not that is really the case.  He's a stickler for details, and if his picture isn't going to look just like he wants it to (which would be virtually impossible), he doesn't even want to try.  He does like painting -- especially rocks outside -- so I just keep making art accessible and encouraging him to try it out with us.  I was thrilled to find this fabulous book a few weeks ago and honestly think he enjoys drawing more now that we've read it several times.  The other day, for example, we made our own animal ABCs book and he excitedly drew a picture for each animal he had chosen.  All 26 of them.  In one sitting!  I was beyond amazed.  Several times, when part of his drawing didn't look the way he wanted to, he'd say something like, "Well, it might not look just like a frog, but it's frog-ish!"  And then he'd happily continue scribbling and drawing.  It was awesome.  He's made similar "ish" comments while drawing on other occasions, too, and I love that this book seems to have encouraged him to take chances and not worry so much about whether his work looks "right."  I just want him to have fun and enjoy the process along the way.  It's funny, too, because no matter how many times I have encouraged him to draw without worrying about it looking perfect, the message never really seemed to stick until we read this book.  Here's a little taste of what Ish all about:

Ramon loves to draw more than anything in the whole world.  Anytime, anything, anywhere.  One day, as he is drawing a vase of flowers, his older brother walks up behind him and laughs, "What is THAT?"  With those three words, Ramon's whole attitude towards his art changes.  He keeps trying to make his art look "right," but it never does.  After months of frustration and countless crumpled papers, Ramon gives up.  Fortunately for Ramon, his younger sister sees things differently.  When he sees his vase drawing and other castaways proudly displayed on the wall of her room, Ramon begins to realize that perhaps art doesn't have to be perfect to be just right.  It might not look like a vase, but it is "vase-ish," and that, it turns out, is good enough.

Children needn't be reluctant artists or perfectionists to enjoy this book, though I especially recommend it if your child is like mine.  This would be a great book to share in classrooms, too.  More than anything, I just love the way Ish encourages children to let their ideas flow freely and appreciate the individuality of their work.  Thank you, Peter Reynolds, for inspiring us to "live ishfully ever after."