November 22 – It’s Picture Book Month

About the Holiday

Picture Book Month is an international literacy inititive put together by a group of authors and illustrators to raise awareness of the importance of print picture books. Througout the world libraries, schools, booksellers, authors, illustrators, and those who love picture books celebrate the wonder of this art form enjoyed by children and adults. The complexity of picture books is astounding. They contain some of the most beautiful art and compelling stories being created today. To learn more about the importance of the picture book visit Picture Book Month: A Celebration! to find daily posts by authors, illustrators, and experts in the field as well as fun activities!

The Whisper

By Pamela Zagarenski

A little girl loves stories and the magical realms they can take her to. One day while waiting for school to be dismissed, she spies a book on a shelf. Her teacher allows her to take it home with her, and the little girl happily runs off with it when the clock strikes 3:00. On the way home, she doesn’t notice that all the letters are escaping from the book or that a wily fox is catching them in a net.

At home she secludes herself in her room, excited to read the mysterious book. She turns the pages, awed by the beautiful pictures. But by the time she has finished, she has tears in her eyes. “Where were the words? Where were the stories?” The girl flips through the book again, but this time she hears a small whisper: “Dear little girl, don’t be disappointed. You can imagine the words. You can imagine the stories.”

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The whisper seems so knowing that the girl does at it suggests. She turns to the first page where a blue bear followed by a beekeeper walks under a honeycomb sun toward a brown bear. The girl stares at the picture and thinks of a title: Blue Bear’s Visit. Her story begins: “Blue Bear arrived on the first day of spring. He promised…”

Warming to the idea of creating stories, the girl examines the second picture. She notices the same white rabbit that was in the first picture. In the foreground a “magnificent ox” is listening to a man whispering into its large, soft ear. The Secret, the little girl titles this story, which starts: “Mr. Ox, you must please promise not to tell anyone, but we need your help. Last week…”

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With the third picture the words tumble out more easily, forming sentences that give life to the massive white elephant, regal lion, and that rabbit again who are traveling the sea in a long, open boat. The Quest, she calls it. In Tigers Prayer, preparations are being made: tea is brewing, a clown with a pointed hat plays his accordion, a windhorse jumps through hoops, and the rabbit rides a golden ring as a lion hears what Tiger has to say. A Birthday Party comes next, and it seems Pan has planned a very secret party. An owl perches in the crook of a tree asking for the password with a “Hoo, Who?” which is answered quickly because the vanilla cake with raspberry filling and vanilla cream frosting holding 6 candles must be delivered.

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The Magical Cloak sees the little girl’s imagination truly take flight as she decides the man in the “elaborate coat” is a wizard or magician whose bubbles come to life once released from the blower. Enormous whales now fill the harbor. They are beautiful, but something must be done….Next, hurry to meet the owl! He is picking up passengers at midnight. But what does the golden key in his beak open? Only the story The Golden Key locked in the little girl’s mind will tell.

Hours go by as the little girl creates tales for each picture in the book. As the night grows late, she sleeps, carried into slumber on dreams woven from the pictures and stories she imagined. When she wakes up, the girl wishes to spend more time with her new friends, but it’s time for school so she gathers up the book and hurries away.

On the path to school she meets a fox who is carrying a bag. “Excuse me, little girl,” says the fox. “I believe I have the words to your book.” The fox then explains how he caught the words as they spilled from the pages the day before. The fox gives her his parcel, but asks for a favor. The girl is happy to oblige and lets the fox stand on her shoulders to reach a bunch of grapes dangling from a nearby vine.

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The girl rushes into school and apologizes for being late. She relates the story of the fox and the words and the magical night she has spent making up tales for the pictures in the book. “I have so many stories to tell you,” says the girl to her teacher. “‘I can’t want to hear,’” the teacher replies with a smile.”

Opening a book by Pamela Zagarenski is to fall into an alternate realm of such beauty and imagination that you forget the real world exists. Her paintings are composed of rich, regal hues swirling with images and designs that overlap and float to create the kind of experience only the deepest, most complex dreams allow. The characters and details follow page to page uniting the pictures and, subtly, the stories the little girl discovers in them: The teapot, once introduced, waits under a tree on the next page and rides the waves of the whale-filled sea in the next. The bees and the rabbit are constant companions on each spread, and the animals will fill the reader with awe.

The little girl’s imagined stories are tantalizing with just the right mix of the mysterious and the tangible to entice readers to add more. The frame of the Aesop Fable The Fox and the Grapes is inspired and could lead to a conversation about how “life is what you make it.”

The Whisper is a book readers will want to linger over and dip into again and again, and would be especially fun on those days when there’s “nothing” to do. It makes a beautiful gift for any occasion and would be a welcome addition to any home library.

Ages 4 – 9 (this book would also appeal to adults)

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015 | ISBN 978-0544416864

Picture Book Month Activity

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I Have the Reading Bug Book Plate

Do you want to let everyone know which books are yours? Or just declare your love of books? Then display this printable I Have the Reading Bug Book Plate in your books. on your wall, or in your locker!

Picture Book Review

November 15 – I Love to Write Day

Posted by Kath Carroll

About the Holiday

I Love to Write Day was created by Delaware-based author John Riddle in 2002. He wanted to share his passion for writing with others and encourage them to pick up a pen or sit down at the computer and compose a poem, a short story, a journal entry, or whatever kind of written expression stirs their hearts. It’s fitting that today’s holiday comes in the middle of NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month, when novelists and would-be novelists strive to begin and finish a complete novel (well, at least a first draft) in one month. If you hold ambitions to write, why not start today? As today’s book shows, you’ll be part of a very honored, long-standing tradition!

I Am a Story

By Dan Yaccarino

Sometimes it seems that from nothing and out of nowhere a story comes. And yet storytelling also seems to be an inborn trait, passed down from generation to generation and discovered in daydreams, alternate realities, those “what if?” moments. In Dan Yaccarino’s book, a story relates its history, beginning with our oldest ancestors. “I am a story,” the narrator states. “I was told around a campfire. Then painted on cave walls.” The story travels over years and across miles, changing the way it is told but not its impact.

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Image copyright Dan Yaccarino, courtesy of harpercollins.com

Men inscribed words on papyrus; women used woodblocks, brushes, and ink to bring them to life. Tales were stitched into legend on beautiful tapestries that brightened dank castle walls, and they were transcribed in gilded lettering “into big books to illuminate minds.” Then a man discovered how to print the story so many people could read it, which led to the story being “acted out onstage.”

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Image copyright Dan Yaccarino, courtesy of harpercollins.com

Stories were bound into books and families began to collect them, creating “vast private libraries.” Then public libraries opened, and now stories are available for everyone—even in places so remote that the books are brought on donkeys, by camel, or even atop elephants. There are tiny libraries—not much bigger than a birdhouse; vending machines that dispense stories; and old telephone booths that have been transformed with shelves of books.

The story reveals its power to make “people frightened, excited, sad, and happy.” Some have felt and still feel that the story is dangerous, so they have “censored, banned, and burned” it. But the story “did not die.” Millions of people all over the world are inspired by the story every day. “I can go with you everywhere,” the story says, “and will live forever. I am a story.”

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Image copyright Dan Yaccarino, courtesy of harpercollins.com

Bibliophiles young and old will love the simply told and expressively illustrated timeline of the story from early oral traditions until today. Between the first page where ancient peoples interpreted the constellations and the last where a family of today tells stories around a campfire under the starry sky, the various forms that stories take are described with vivid, full-bleed pages of people toiling over manuscripts, inventing methods of mass production, and building collections all to ensure that the words continue no matter what changes occur.

Kids will love lingering over the details on each page, and every page could lead to a fun afternoon of discovering more about each stage in the story’s development. For teachers and homeschoolers I Am a Story is a wonderful jumping off book for an English or History unit, and it makes a beautiful addition to any library.

Ages 4 – 8

HarperCollins, 2016 | ISBN 978-0062411068

You know Dan Yaccarino from his TV shows The Backyardigans, Oswald and others as well as his many, many books. You can learn more about him and his work on his website!

Enjoy this I Am a Story book trailer!

I Love to Write Day Activity

The History of the Story Bookmark

From cave paintings and hieroglyphics to the printing press and the computer, people have ensured that their thoughts were not forgotten. Here’s a printable The History of the Story Bookmark plus a blank one for you to fill in. Use them to mark your favorite stories!

**You can find I Am a Story at these booksellers**

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million | IndieBound

Picture Book Review

November 6 – Marooned without a Compass Day

Posted by Kath Carroll

About the Holiday

It may seem appropriate that the origins of this holiday are lost to history, like someone left to languish on a deserted island. But it’s true that—at some time or another—most of us feel marooned without a compass, flailing with decisions about what to do, who to confide in, even who we are. Today is an opportunity to reflect on the direction you are going in life and, if you find you are off course, to steer once more down the right path. It’s comforting to know that someone will be waiting for you when you reach home—wherever that may be.

In a Village by the Sea

Written by Muon Van | Illustrated by April Chu

High on a cliff a small house looks out over the sea, where fishermen are poling their craft and setting their nets. “In that house, high above the waves, is a kitchen.” In the kitchen a warm fire blazes under “a pot of steaming noodle soup.” A woman, preparing ingredients for dinner, watches, mixes, and stirs while the pot simmers.

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Image copyright April Chu, courtesy of aprilchu.com

“By that woman is a sleepy child, yawning and turning. By that child, tucked in the shadows, is a dusty hole.” If you peer into that hole, you will see something astounding—a brown cricket is “humming and painting.” The cricket, brushes in four hands is surrounded by paints contained in seashells. It is painting a “sudden storm, roaring and flashing.”

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Image copyright April Chu, courtesy of aprilchu.com

A white boat rides this roiling sea, rising and dipping with the crashing waves as lightning flashes ahead. Under the cover of the boat’s canvas roof a fisherman eyes the threatening sky and waits for the storm to end. In his hand he opens a precious box. Inside are two pictures: one of a small house high on a hill; the other of a smiling woman holding a little child while their dog looks on. Next to these sits a special cricket.

In the painting there is also a small house, and “in that house is a family waiting for [the fisherman] to come home.”

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Image copyright April Chu, courtesy of aprilchu.com

Muon Van’s lyrical tale expands and contracts through the eyes of family members to reveal not only the actions and emotions of one afternoon but those that eternally exist in each character’s heart. In the opening page readers view the small house from afar as the husband and father fisherman casts off on his journey. Children are then invited into the kitchen and finally into a small crevice.

Through the cricket’s tiny painting, readers once again see the wider world with its storms and worries. Narrowing the perspective to the fisherman’s view as he looks at his photo box, however, they understand that comfort and reassurance are always close at hand. As the next page zooms out, children are again invited into the little home to join the woman, baby, and vigilant dog as they gaze out into the bay, watching and waiting for one particular boat.

Van’s quiet and simple story holds much universal feeling as it traverses both homey and unpredictable landscapes. As each page depends on the previous one, a gentle suspense builds, enticing readers to follow wherever the story takes them. The inclusion of the “dusty hole,” where a cricket—a symbol of good luck—paints the rest of the story, is irresistible and lends the tale a mystical quality.

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Image copyright April Chu, courtesy of aprilchu.com

April Chu’s gorgeous paintings transport readers to a Vietnamese fishing village with their delicate and colorful details. The small home glows with the light of paper lanterns and the fire in the stove. As the perspective of the text changes, so does the perspective of Chu’s paintings. When readers peer into the soup pot, bubbling with delicious vegetables, the family’s Labrador gazes up at them, almost begging to know what smells so good. Another bird’s eye view lets kids watch as the dog discovers the hole under the rug, a beautiful device to increase their enjoyment of and wonderment at the story.

Kids will marvel at the cricket’s artistic talent, as the stormy sea churns with whitecaps and lightning flashes from the tip of the small creator’s paintbrush. But it is Chu’s mastery that makes each page so meaningful.

Ages 3 – 10

Creston Books, 2015 | ISBN 978-1939547156

View a porfolio of picture books and other artwork by April Chu on her website!

Marooned without a Compass Day Activity

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Sailboat Maze

Sometimes getting through a maze is as smooth as sailing on a calm sea—and sometimes the path is a little choppy. Get your pencil ready and chart a path through this printable Sailboat Maze!

Picture Book Review

November 5 – Book Lovers Day

Posted by Kath Carroll

About the Holiday

The first Saturday in November is set aside for all book lovers out there who like nothing more than to snuggle into a cozy nook with a favorite book. It’s a great day to discover a new author or to reread a beloved one. With so many kinds of books available—mystery, adventure, humor, biography, non-fiction, novels, and more—you may want to read more than one today! How many can you read?

Hug This Book!

Written by Bernie Saltzberg | Illustrated by Fred Benaglia

When you grab onto a book and open the cover, you know what to do! But did you know that books themselves may have some ideas on the subject? Today’s reviewed book has plenty of fabulous, page-turning ideas and is happy to share them with you. Its first thought is a pretty big one: “You can read this book to a hippo.” I know!—wouldn’t that be a blast?

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Image copyright Fred Benaglia, text copyright Barney Saltzberg. Courtesy of Phaidon Press

It seems that books watch how readers treat their pets, and they want in: “You can kiss and hug and smell this book. / That might sound sort of silly. / You can wrap this book in a sweater, / if it ever gets too chilly.” That sounds as cozy as enjoying hot chocolate in front of a fire—with this book, of course!

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Image copyright Fred Benaglia, text copyright Barney Saltzberg. Courtesy of Phaidon Press

The book continues—“You can make up a story to tell to this book.” Hmmm…I never thought about it. Maybe books don’t like doing all the work all the time. Maybe they’d like to just relax and be entertained. Well, I’m sure you can come up with something fun and fantastic! And just to keep you on your toes, the book offers a few more challenges: “Can you read this book in the mirror? / Or sing the words in this book like a song? / If you sing it to the birdies, maybe they’ll sing along.” After completing those activities maybe it’s time for a nap. Don’t forget to take the book too, but be ready to giggle because… “Maybe you’ll hear it snore.”

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And when you wake up all refreshed you can try reading the book while dancing, twirling, leaping, skipping…you can even take it to lunch, “just do not try to feed it.” Then suddenly and all too soon the book comes to the last page. Don’t be sad, though. “Even though this book is over, / it isn’t really the end. / You can start at the beginning / and read it to a friend!”

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Image copyright Fred Benaglia, text copyright Barney Saltzberg. Courtesy of Phaidon Press

Barney Saltzberg’s love for books is infectious. His witty rhymes bubble with the thrill of reading and playfully challenge kids to take books along no matter where they go or what they do. The cadence of Saltzberg’s lines invite multiple readings—the way the rhythm of movement in hopscotch, jump rope, or dancing is inherent in the fun. Kids will giggle at the examples Saltzberg conjurs up—reading to a hippo, listening to a book snore, feeding a book—and you can bet that they will want to invent some of their own! Get ready to hug this book—and many others. After all isn’t that what best friends do?

Fred Benaglia’s adorable characters swim and paddle, snuggle and swing, play and imagine all the while with their nose in this book. The fanciful coloring and quirky landscapes enhance both the originality and universality of this tribute to book love. Benaglia’s artwork—from the fish nibbling at a child’s toes to the cars zipping through the cities—radiate personality invites creative thinking. Readers will especially want to linger over the two-page spread of a smiling child conjuring up a host of stories to catch every imaginative detail in the chalk drawings. The big red heart on the cover under the book jacket is a clever touch, connecting Hug This Book! to “this book” in the text.

For all book lovers, Hug This Book! is a fun, funny romp and will be a welcome, often-asked-for addition to a child’s library.

Ages 2 – 7

Phaidon Press, 2016 | ISBN 978-0714872841

You’ll love discovering all the books, music, and videos on Barney Saltzberg‘s website!

Cuteness abounds on Fred Benaglia‘s website, where you’ll find book illustrations and so much more!

Can you hug this Hug This Book! book trailer?

Book Lovers Day Activity

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Book Lovers Book Bag

Whether you’re buying new books at your local bookstore or checking some out at your library, carry those treasures home in their own special bag! This kid-sized bag was made from recycled materials!

Supplies

Printable Templates: Books to Read Template | Books to Love Template
Small cloth bag, available from craft or sewing stores—Recyclable Idea: I used the bag that sheet sets now come in
Cloth trim or strong ribbon, available from craft or sewing stores—Recyclable Idea: I used the cloth handles from shopping bags provided from some clothing stores
Scraps of different colored and patterned cloth. Or use quilting squares, available at craft and sewing stores
Pen or pencil for tracing letters onto cloth
Scissors
Small sharp scissors (or cuticle scissors) for cutting out the center of the letters
Fabric glue
Thread (optional)
Needle (optional)

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Directions

Print the sayings and cut out the letters
Trace letters onto different kinds of cloth
Cut out cloth letters
Iron cloth bag if necessary
Attach words “Books to Read” to one side of bag with fabric glue
Attach words “Books to Love” to other side of bag with fabric glue
Cut cloth trim or ribbon to desired length to create handles
Glue (or sew) handles onto the inside edge of bag

Picture Book Review

October 25 – International Artist Day

Posted by Kath Carroll

About the Holiday

Instituted in 2004 by Chris MacClure, a Canadian artist who specializes in Romantic Realism, National Artist Day celebrates the various forms of art, the artist, and the unique vision each one brings to their work and the world. Whether you like classic or abstract styles, watercolors or oils, sculpture or installations, why not take some time today to visit an art museum or gallery—or page through a collection of prints or a biography like today’s book!

The Noisy Paint Box: The Colors and Sounds of Kandinsky’s Abstract Art

Written by Barb Rosenstock | Illustrated by Mary GrandPré

As a Russian child Vasya Kandinsky spends his days absorbed in learning math, science, and history. He takes piano lessons and attends formal dinners where the adults drone on and on. His life is polite, stiff, and colorless until the day his aunt gives him a small wooden paint box. “Every proper Russian boy should appreciate art,” Vasya’s aunt tells him while explaining how to mix colors.

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Image copyright Mary Grandpré, text copyright Barb Rosenstock. Courtesy of randomhouse.com

Vasya takes up the brush and combines red with yellow then red with blue. As the colors change to orange and purple, Vasya hears a whisper that grows into a noisy hiss. “‘What is that sound?’” he asks, but no one else hears anything. “The swirling colors trilled like an orchestra tuning up for a magical symphony,” and “Vasya painted the sound of the colors.” A lemon yellow “clinked like the highest notes on the keyboard; a navy blue “vibrated deeply like the lowest cello strings.” Crimsons “blared” and greens “burbled.”

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Image copyright Mary Grandpré, text copyright Barb Rosenstock. Courtesy of randomhouse.com

Vasya runs downstairs to show his family what he has created. His mother, father, and Auntie look at the canvas with its swoops, shapes, and angles. “What is it supposed to be?” they ask, and send him off to art school to learn how “to draw houses and flowers—just like everyone else.” Vasya finishes school and becomes a lawyer. He leaves his paint box untouched and lives the way he is expected, but the sounds of the colors are always with him.

One evening as he listens to an opera, the music surrounds him with color—“stomping lines of vermilion and coral; caroling triangles in pistachio and garnet; thundering arches of aqua and ebony…” Vasya can hear the colors and see the music. He knows then what he must do. He quits his job teaching law and moves to Germany to be a painter. He surrounds himself with artists and takes classes with famous teachers, and yet people still look at his canvases and asked, “What is it supposed to be?”

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Image copyright Mary Grandpré, text copyright Barb Rosenstock. Courtesy of randomhouse.com

Once again he paints what is expected. His teachers love his houses and flowers, but Vasya does not. His friends understand. They too want to expand the meaning of art. They agree with Vasya when he says, “‘Art should make you feel.’” In his studio Vasya continues to paint the sounds he hears, to give music color and color sound. Bravely, he invites the public to view his paintings, which are named after musical terms—Composition, Accompaniment, Fugue, and more.

This is a new kind of art—abstract art—and it takes a long time before people understand. They look and still ask, “What is it supposed to be?” “It is my art,” Kandinsky replies “How does it make you feel?”

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Image copyright Mary Grandpré, courtesy of randomhouse.com

An author’s note telling more about Kandinsky’s life and synesthesia, a genetic condition in which one sense triggers another, follows the story.

In the spirit of full disclosure, Kandinsky is one of my favorite artists, so I was excited to read this biography—I was not disappointed! With so many great artists, their work speaks for itself, but viewers wonder: How did it come about? What influenced the artist? Barb Rosenstock, with lyrical language and beautifully chosen descriptions, reveals the emotions and passion that fueled Kandinsky’s art from his earliest ages: as he walks through Moscow he can’t ignore “the canary-colored mailbox whistling as he rode to work. The scarlet sunset haze ringing above the ancient Kremlin walls.” Rosenstock’s inclusion of the conflicts and opposition Kandinsky faced and overcame will inspire children to listen to their inner voice and makes readers and lovers of his abstract art glad he never gave up.

Mary GrandPré’s unique style brilliantly depicts Kandinsky’s singular vision, allowing readers to experience the way he wielded his paint brush like a conductor’s baton. Vasya’s early life is painted in muted blues and grays, and the boredom on his face as he studies his schoolwork is obvious. Kids will appreciate his one-finger plinking at the piano and the rolled-eyed drowsiness of the formal dinner. Once Vasya is introduced to the paint box, however, GrandPré’s illustrations become vibrant, with swirling colors overlaid with the musical notes that Kandinsky associated with them. His uninhibited painting is gloriously shown as the young boy’s shirt comes untucked and the colors burst from the canvas upon his first painting.

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Image copyright Mary Grandpré, text copyright Barb Rosenstock. Courtesy of randomhouse.com

As the adults look at his work, the room is again swathed in somber colors. The text revealing that Vasya attended regular art classes to learn to draw houses and flowers is set above a single wilting flower in a vase. The personal tug-of-war Kandinsky experienced even into adulthood is wonderfully rendered: Colors flow into his ears at the opera; he studies his own landscape and still life paintings with misgiving in a hazy studio, and the joy and freedom of his abstract art is demonstrated with wild abandon while a dove escapes its cage. The final image of a child sitting in front of a Kandinsky painting reinforces the idea that his art lives for all and for all time.

Ages 4 – 9

Alfred Knopf, Random House Children’s Books, 2014 | ISBN 978-0307978486

International Artists Day Activity

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I Love Art! Word Search

There are twenty-five art-related words for everyone to love in this printable I Love Art! word search puzzle! Here’s the Solution!

Picture Book Review

October 22 – Smart is Cool Day

Posted by Kath Carroll

About the Holiday

There are many ways to be smart—and they are all very cool! The world needs people who can think differently about all issues to solve problems, create art and literature that reflects our times and present alternate viewpoints, and just to make life funnier, more poignant, more beautiful,more livable. Today, celebrate your particular way of being smart and share it with others!

On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein

Written by Jennifer Berne | Illustrated by Vladimir Radunsky

More than 100 years ago on a windy March day, a baby boy was born—Albert was his name. Albert turned one without saying a word. When Albert had his second birthday, he still hadn’t said a word. By the age of three Albert had only said a few words. “He just looked around with his big, curious eyes. Looked and wondered. Looked and wondered.” Albert’s parents were a bit worried because he was so different from other kids. But “they loved him…no matter what.”