Picture Books are Back!!!!

The wonderful things about picture books are that they are short, simple, full of pictures and they are everywhere!

During the last few months I concentrated my efforts on chapter books and I completely forgot about the rich content of picture books, well, forgot only until my last visit to the library.
I was searching for a particular book which was supposed to be 'on the shelf', and looking for the particular shelf which was supposed to host the particular book took me through rows and rows of picture books. Wow! I was thrilled with the discoveries I made. We are in need of simple, funny, amusing and short texts, and picture books are filling up this gap. They are a fabulous place to turn to when in doubt about what to read next. Pick a picture book. Any picture book can cure the uncertainty and can even point you to a direction. Don't forget picture books!

We love picture books.  Here are some that we have found quite enjoyable.

This book starts sad. A poor cat without a friend, roams the streets and is chased and unwanted, until an unexpected and maybe unwanted adventure takes her to an equally lonely person. The happy end! This is a great story. Yes, it is sad, but also very hopeful and positive and encouraging. Yes, you are not alone, keep on going and you will find your rightful place. This is a book worth reading several times. The first time for the listeners to understand the sequence of events and build some imagery. The other times to discuss all the wonderful themes in the book-loneliness, adventure, hunger, need, want, friendship, interpersonal relationships, attitudes, prejudice.

 This was the story that cheered up the mood in the house after we read the Scrawny Cat. It is a silly story, similar to the story about the chicken who cried that the sky is falling or the other chicken which cried that there is fire in the sky. This is a much more funny story and involves people from the neighborhood. As the previous book this one qualifies for multiple readings. On the first read, let the story settle and amuse. On the other readings, bring out discussion topics-the community and how all members are interdependent, the need/want for different professions, the relationship, the impact of a small event on the community. Great story, which is so more than a story. Enjoy!

 This was the third book we read. We did not like it much but it was funny. Again, it can be read multiple times and different things can be discussed. The first time we read it we tried to get the content but we also concentrated on understanding the pictures, looking for details and clues for the rest of the events. Upon other readings I think we will talk about 1) what is the chance that the two friends would take exactly the same routes and find each other-is it really as unlikely as we think (there is a lot of Bayesian to teach, priors-anyone!); 2) another obvious topic to tackle is geography-where do you think the friends live, why France(where is France), why Nepal (where is Nepal), What is Everest. Great starting point for learning.

What a gem! I follow a blog in which the lady presents with commentary the words she uses in her homeschool to cover topics and subjects. She provided a list with books related to the topic of home/houses which I also find fascinating, especially with my little man being into Legos and construction, and us living in Chicago which is rich in architectural history. There was one book which I picked and I liked-Old House, New House. It is a bit complicated but maybe we can give it a shot soon. Among the comments to the blog publication was mentioned the book which I am listing here. This is a fabulous book. I highly recommend it. It encouraged me to think about the large scale and meaning of home and all the details that form our living. It is a fabulous introduction to the structure of life, to the organization of communities, to the historical, geological, social, economic, technological and biological elements that form our daily existence and integration with nature. I am fascinated by the richness of the questions it is asking the reader to reflect on. It is a picture book with very concise and informative text. Enjoy!

Yes, you are right, this is not a picture book. The spirit of this book is like a picture book. The descriptions are vivid, the stories are easy to relate to, innocent, silly and amusing that yes, this is almost as good as a picture book. The stories are almost like the stories about Pippi Longstocking; but only almost! The children in this book are ordinary children, who see the world as all ordinary kids; they are not extravagant, they are plain ordinary and still manage to have most unbelievable adventures. This is Pippi Longstockings adventures but without Pippi, with only Tommi and Anika. I love this book. There are references to the older way of life; the childhood when there was no TV, no cars; when it was safe to on your bike around your neighborhood, when your neighbors knew you well, when a wagon rolling through the street and rising dust was a usual thing.  This is a fun book to pre-read and to post-read! Enjoy!

As we were reading the Moffats, I told myself: 'Wait, we have better Bulgarian books-Patilantsi', for instance. Turns out that, yes, our literature is better but it is also 100 years old which means that some of the language is difficult for me too. We are reading the Bulgarian book now because the chapters are shorter, equally silly and full of great cultural information.

Weslandia is a wonderful book about someone who is different. There was a speech this year at the Oscars by someone who said ' When I was 15 I wanted to kill myself. Look how far I have come. If you are weird, if you don't fit, please, keep on doing what you are doing, keep on being yourself.' This book is wonderful because it is educational and inspirational. If you want to cover history, social science, geography, science, math, whatever educational topic is on your mind, you can use this book. I find this book most remarkable because it allows you to understand that there is nothing wrong with just being different; in fact, this book can inspire you to think outside the box and see the extraordinary in the ordinary.

What a powerful story! This book is appropriate to all audiences 5+. It is so simple. It is not the detail of geography that the boy learned that make this book so special; the magic is captured by the mental adventures that the map allowed the boy to take, far away from hunger and poverty, far away from trouble.

This is an old favorite. I loved it the first time I read this book a few years ago. More or less we come across this book at least once each year. We always have something new to talk about, some new detail to uncover. It is a simple and straightforward story, so it is quite surprising that it is one of the few books that we have embraced over and over.

Yes, if you want a good laugh, this is your book. It is a silly book. In a humorous way you can talk about friendship, adoption, envy, jealousy, pop culture, economics, the self, self-importance. There is so much in this book which while very simple and silly is also very rich! It gave us the surprise we have been looking for for a while now. Read it and laugh, laugh out loud.






These two that follow are my own readings. I found both books quite interesting and engaging. One Crazy Summer is complicated for young readers, I think, or for anyone not familiar with this part of the US history, the black panthers. I was not familiar with the history, so it was difficult for me to tune in, but after a certain moment the book acquires a very humane image and you don't need the historical element to stay engaged. The Long Walk To Water is a fascinating book, and gives you a perspective on immigration. I am an immigrant but I came from a peaceful country. I did not have to fight for my life, I was never hungry. I am told we didn't have much but it was never evident to me that we struggled in our daily lives. The person who narrates the main story has struggled. What is most astounding is that along his story of survival, you hear a lot of stories of lost life. You wonder about evolution, about the meaning of humanity. Are we by being humane really being good to one another or are we the real evil by imposing rules that are not natural. What I mean is that hunger and poverty and drought will naturally wipe out the people who are in these places. This is driven by nature. But we by moving resources, and only very limited amounts, from area of abundance to area of scarcity, we create additional need, additional motivation for ferocity; we create the inhumane which what our humane gesture tried to avoid. To me the absolute resolution is absolute relocation from the geographical area of scarcity, but this is not feasible. Yet, the process of selection is full of conflict-selecting only the strong, only the fit, are we really not playing nature, are we really not pretending to be better; who are we to decide that one's life is worthy of saving and another's is not; why is being sick an indication of lack of potential. We have easily lost poets, engineers, just because their road to the point of salvation was difficult. I am very conflicted when it comes to humanity and the fine balance of resources in nature. The book is interesting, with positive end, but to me, humans playing nature, playing the merciful and also the villain who select the few to be saved presents a huge, unresolved problem. Good, easy, quick reads, worthy of discussion with young and old. I recommend both.