scrounge: /skrounj/ informal verb: to actively seek [books] from any available source
Finding Wild is a short, simple, and lyrical "concept book" that celebrates the idea of "wild." What is it? Where do you find it? The answers aren't straightforward, but with enough examples and adjectives, as well as beautiful, evocative images of a pair of children exploring the outdoors, we start to get a picture of this word.
Wild can be dangerous -- it can have teeth, or sting, or prick your finger. But it can also be soft and sweet-smelling, producing berries and beautiful flowers.
Toward the end we see how much harder it can be to "find wild" in cities that are orderly and covered in concrete. But wild is still there -- if we look for it!
Scrounged From: Our local library
Format: Hardcover
Author: Megan Wagner Lloyd
Illustrator: Abigail Halpin
Pages: 32
Content Advisory: None
Most picture books use words and illustrations to tell a story -- but some artists are skilled at storytelling without using any words at all. Here are some of our favorites, in no particular order:
Wave, by Suzy Lee, is a simple book with a long horizontal-rectangle shape, that depicts a little girl interacting with the waves on a seashore. The vibrant blue stands out so well against the black and white, and the exuberance and curiosity is evident on the girl's face as she joyfully watches, kicks, and even taunts the waves. This is a fun book that even young children can "read" to themselves.
David Wiesner has written and illustrated many imaginative and detailed picture books, and Sector 7 is a wordless fantasy that seems to explore the question: What if clouds were alive? A Caldecott Honor book in 2000, this story follows a boy who goes on a school trip to the Empire State Building, where he meets a friendly cloud who takes him through the air to visit "Sector 7," a giant "assignment station" in the sky where clouds are received and dispatched to various places in various forms. But the clouds are unhappy -- they are stuck making the same boring shapes over and over again -- can the boy help them be more creative? And if he can, what will the "powers that be" think of it?
Peter Spier's Noah's Ark won the Caldecott Medal in 1978. Aside from some introductory text, it wordlessly tells the biblical tale of Noah and his floating menagerie. It's fun to see the ways in which he envisions so many animals living together during a flood. By the end of the story, I can really feel the relief and freedom that comes when the ark door opens and everyone is finally free to go their own way.
Sidewalk Flowers, by JonArno Lawson, is full of beautiful black-and-white illustrations that gradually gain more color as the story progresses. The images follow a father and daughter out for a walk. The daughter notices little things that her father does not seem to see -- such as flowers growing up through cracks in the sidewalk and other places. It's a celebration of beauty, and of the natural curiosity of a child, as well as her care and compassion for the lonely things that adults have learned to simply pass by.
Zoom, by Istvan Banyai, is a clever book that simply shows us one image after another, and each time the frame is zoomed out a bit. After a while, we realize that some of the things that seem to be people are simply photos, or otherwise different than initially thought. By the time it's finished, it's hard to fathom how far away it is from the beginning. Each page contains a blank page on the left, and the image on the right, to keep from spoiling any surprises. This is one of the few books out there that is just as fun to "read" backwards!
Ada Lovelace has been my introduction to the Little People, Big Dreams series, books that tell short stories of the lives of people who changed the world for the better.
This is a preschool-level take on the life of Ada Lovelace. We learn about how different (and somewhat absent) her parents were, but that Ada found ways to exercise both her logical and imaginative sides. She was taught math and logic, which was unusual for girls in those days, and eventually met with inventor Charles Babbage, leading her to develop the first computer programming code.
It's a fascinating story that is good for young children but also encourages additional reading about an important historical figure, especially since the text here is sparse. There is a somewhat longer informational page at the end, and also a few book recommendations, which are helpful.
(Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy.)
Scrounged From: NetGalley
Format: Kindle
Author: Isabel Sanchez Vegara
Illustrator: Zafouko Yamamoto
Pages: 32
Content Advisory: The text mentions briefly that Ada's father left when she was young.
When I recently came across a copy of Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie, I remembered it from the PBS show Reading Rainbow -- none of the details, but I knew it was a story about a father who asked his daughter to keep the lighthouse lights burning while he was away.
It turns out this is based on a true story that took place in my home state of Maine in 1856. Not only did Abbie have to keep the lights burning by herself for weeks while the storm raged and her father was unable to return to Matinicus Rock, but she also had to tend to her sick mother, feed (and rescue!) her chickens, and help her three sisters as they managed the household.
I still find this story moving even though it's written in reader style with fairly short, choppy sentences. Most of all, I love the story of Abbie's courage, and the simple father-daughter moment at the very end.
Scrounged From: A homeschool book sale
Format: Paperback
Authors: Peter Roop, Connie Roop
Illustrator: Peter Hanson
Pages: 40
Content Advisory: A bit of peril when Abbie is almost hit by a giant wave.
Outside Your Window: A First Book of Nature is a visual feast of colorful, mixed-media images and poetic descriptions that celebrate the most everyday and relatable aspects of nature. It's organized by seasons, and each double pages serves as a vignette of various animals and acts of nature that happen during that season -- from birds building nests and tadpoles hatching in ponds to gardening, wind, snow, fungi, bees, worms, and many other things that are accessible right outside our doors and windows.
I think the illustrations are the best part, with their textures and color pallette, but the text also easily evokes the sights, sounds, and experience of being outdoors, using simple language. This book is fairly long (108 pages), and covers quite a few topics, but is also short enough to read in one sitting if a child has a long enough attention span.
Scrounged From: Amazon (a Christmas present for our five-year-old)
Format: Hardcover
Author: Nicola Davies
Illustrator: Mark Hearld
Pages: 108
Content Advisory: None
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