I don't think I've ever reviewed a wordless picture book for PPBF, so this is a first! The front end paper shows a solitary stick lying in sand. Then, in a spread before the title page, a shadow falls over the stick. What could it be? Page turn. A funny-shaped creature (the one making the … Continue reading The Line in the Sand – Perfect Picture Book Friday
Some biographies take their subjects from cradle to grave. Others are slice of life narratives that show one important aspect of a subject's life. Kafka and the Doll is the latter. But the author, Larissa Theule, is careful to explain in her note to readers, that this work of historical fiction seeks to tell a … Continue reading Kafka and the Doll – Perfect Picture Book Friday
There is so much teachers don't know about the lives of the children who come through their classrooms. So much that kids may not know about their classmates or friends. And a world of details we all don't know about others whose lives may never intersect our own. I WISH YOU KNEW leads readers to … Continue reading I Wish You Knew – Perfect Picture Book Friday
If you're looking for a picture book that fuels empathy, inclusion, and kindness, add this one to your list. A new girl at school sits alone at a bench. The only color in the image is the violet in the girl's hair. Text ©️Nicholas Solis Illustration ©️Renia Metallinou She was new.She was quiet.I think she … Continue reading The Color Collector – Perfect Picture Book Friday
Text ©️Lisa Katzenberger Illus. ©️Jaclyn Sinquett I fell in love at first sight with sweet Giraffe and Zebra's outstretched arms. Yes, smitten by a cover. So often that's the first thing that grabs the eye of the parent or child in the bookstore or library. And when I read the first spread, I was hooked. … Continue reading It Will Be OK – Perfect Picture Book Friday
I was 21 and thoughtless. I and my co-workers ate popcorn with abandon, not thinking about the mess we made in the office. We were engineers, focused on producing mainframe (does that date me?) computer equipment and not much else. So when the cleaning staff asked us to be less messy, we were shocked out … Continue reading The Paper Kingdom – Perfect Picture Book Friday #PPBF
Anyone else feeling cooped up? Itching to get outside? Here's a little treat to get you primed for opening the door. If that cover doesn't grab you, perhaps the opening spread with its collective first person assertion will: Once we were part of Outside and Outside was part of us. There was nothing between us. … Continue reading Outside In – Perfect Picture Book Friday #PPBF
I don't often review wordless picture books, but I was smitten by this book: Why? The huge humor and heart factor. Those who are "only" writers (like me) must infuse the text with heart, and then leave it to illustrators to fulfill what is promised in the text by adding their own form of magic. … Continue reading Pip & Pup – Perfect Picture Book Friday
Jilanne Hoffmann 