Friday Feature from the Fair; part 2

Here is a quick list of fantastic picture books from our Scholastic Book Fair!!  Think great stories + illustrations of beauty!

My Forever Dress by Harriet Ziefert (2009).  "My grandma is magic!" [Love that sentence!]  "She takes an old dress and makes it new with a snip here, a stitch there, some buttons and bows, and loving care.  I call it my forever dress, because it will last forever, and ever, and ever.  I think that's magic, don't you?"  The relationship between the grandmother and granddaughter is one of shared love and respect as they work to create different outfits using the same dress. Perfect for burgeoning eco-friendly fashionistas as well a good example in reduce, reuse, recycle! 

Chalk by Bill Thompson(2010). Simple sidewalk chalk is the key element in this magical wordless book when three children venture out on a rainy day to the park.  Discovering a bag of chalk hanging from a jumping playground dinosaur each child in turn creates a visual masterpiece that comes alive, right up out of the sidewalk.  I loved sharing this with classes from Kinder-second grade and watching their faces light up as the first girl's drawing of a sun becomes real.  The illustrations are so well done my students were able to tell the story as we paged through it. Many had never experienced sidewalk chalk before but they knew it was chalk.  So now I know when the weather warms up we will be decorating our school sidewalks...

 

The Curious Garden by Peter Brown(2009).  Liam, on one of his many walks through his dreary city, finds a patch of a color up by the abandoned railroad tracks.  He transforms himself into a gardener as the plants happily respond,  flourishing under his care.  Students loved watching the city come to life with living things- plants, and flowers as well as other gardeners.  The first picture of the "dreary" city makes a great comparison when you flip to the second to last page-same view, better place to live.  It brought the meaning of the word "dreary" to LIFE!!

I'm always shocked when almost a whole week has gone by without blogging.  My Lenten plan is to be more authentic with my family-to be there. Even as I go through my day blogging ideas zing and ping through my brain.  Plus...I've had a busy week and it is (or will be in one hour)Spring Break!  I am heading to Little Rock to see my friend, V as she steps out for her directorial debut for the play, For Colored Girls Who've Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf by Ntozake Shange.  (my review of this choreopoem)  I am so excited to be there and we have so many other fun things to do and I am hoping and praying it will be warm-I need a little sunshine.  Everyone could use a little  more sunshine...

Namaste...