The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse by Eric Carle is full of the large vibrant illustrations we all expect from this illustrator. The limited text encourages young artists to experiment and imagine other possibilities while painting and drawing. After reading this book, I found First Son copying the pages with his own paper and markers. I actually heard Mr. Carle speaking on NPR about this title and found the story of his experience seeing Franz Marc's paintings for the first time fascinating. (Blue Horse I is shown at the end of the book.)Waiting for the Biblioburro
by Monica Brown, illustrated by John Parra, tells the story of a man who travels through rural Colombia with two burros carrying books, a mobile library for children otherwise without access to a library. It's well-told and vibrantly illustrated. I intend to read it next term during our sojourn in Central and South American for our preschool-reading-around-the-world. (Jeanette Winter has a similar story, Biblioburro: A True Story from Colombia
, but I haven't read that one yet.)
Perfect Square
by Michael Hall explores what a square is and what it can be. Read this
book before presenting your child with a pile of square papers and
watch what happens. It's a delightful book. (The cover made you smile, didn't it?)Me . . . Jane
by Patrick McDonnell is a little story of Jane, who has a dream to live in Africa with the wild animals, a dream that comes true when Jane Goodall arrives in Tanzania in 1960. The text is simple, the illustrations are delightful and there is much to imagine after reading it. Plus, the picture of baby Jane with her toy chimpanzee is adorable!
Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Saint Francis of Assisi's Canticle of the Creatures adapted by Katherine Paterson and illustrated by Pamela Dalton is a stunning book. The illustrations glow on the black backgrounds. The text is a worthy adaptation of St. Francis's canticle. In a similar vein, I checked out Tomie dePaola's Let The Whole Earth Sing Praise
. It's a nice little book but not quite as good.
LMNO Peas by Keith Baker is a charming romp through the alphabet, illustrated by career peas "(hikers, inventors, and investigators"). It's funny and well-illustrated. I loved it and so did the kids.Not every week at the library is as full of delights as this pile of books, but isn't is wonderful when it happens?
