Don't Turn the Page! - Perfect Picture Book Friday

Here's this week's fabulous pick for Susanna Leonard Hill's Perfect Picture Book Friday

Title: Don't Turn the Page!

Author: Rachel Burk

Illustrator: Julie Dowling

Publisher: Creston Books, 2014, fiction

Age Range: 3-8 years

Theme/Topics: bedtime, rhyme, story within a story

First Page: "How about a bedtime story?" Mama asked.
Sami shook her head. "I don't want to go to bed. I'm not tired yet."
"All right," said Mama. "Why don't you pick out a book to read later?"

Synopsis (from Amazon): Like most children, Sami puts off going to bed for as long as possible. But reading a story about Little Bear's bedtime ritual inspires Sammy, just as the young reader will be inspired by this soothing story and clever book-within-a-book concept. A bedtime book that both parent and child will relish reading one more time, Don't Turn the Page! features a surprise ending that reinforces the sense that it's bedtime for everyone.

Resources:Rachelle Burk has several activities to go along with the book (including coloring pages, a maze, and creating your own "bedtime buddies") at her website. Check them out!

Why I LOVE it: It is SUPER creative. It's a bedtime book that is actually calming - AND fun (VERY hard to do!). The illustrations are beautiful. The book within a book is sweet. The kids' delay tactics are SO typical. Mama is clever. The end is cute. It's lovely. What's NOT to love.

Hope you'll give this book a look - and check out the OTHER perfect picture books for today at Susanna's blog - and Susanna's ever-growing list of wonderful picture books. 

 
My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer. Psalm 45:1

A Fine Dessert: Perfect Picture Book Friday

I know. I haven't been here in a while. But I've been busy. And this book has been sitting beside my laptop for WEEKS, waiting for me to have time to write up a PPBF post for it. And today is that day! And so, I present to you another fabulous book to add to Susanna Leonard Hill's Perfect Picture Book Friday list.

Title: A Fine Dessert: Four Centuries, Four Families, One Delicious Treat

Author: Emily Jenkins

Illustrator: Sophie Blackall

Publisher:Schwartz & Wade, 2015, fiction

Age Range: 4-8 years

Theme/Topics: cooking, family life, history,

First Page:A bit more than three hundred years ago, in an English town called Lyme, a girl and her mother picked wild blackberries. Their hands turned purple with the juice. The thorns of the berry bushes pricked the fabric of their long skirts.

Synopsis (from Amazon): In this fascinating picture book, four families, in four different cities, over four centuries, make the same delicious dessert: blackberry fool. This richly detailed book ingeniously shows how food, technology, and even families have changed throughout American history.

In 1710, a girl and her mother in Lyme, England, prepare a blackberry fool, picking wild blackberries and beating cream from their cow with a bundle of twigs. The same dessert is prepared by a slave girl and her mother in 1810 in Charleston, South Carolina; by a mother and daughter in 1910 in Boston; and finally by a boy and his father in present-day San Diego.

Kids and parents alike will delight in discovering the differences in daily life over the course of four centuries.

Resources: There are fabulous notes in the back from both the author and illustrator about their research that can be used. Talk about all the different changes that are shown from one century to the next - in technology, food, etc. AND of course, there is a recipe for blackberry fool in the book too - make some!!

Why I LOVE it: This is a FABULOUS look into our history - both visually and through the words. The four families are so different, and that is shown in the wording and illustrations - but they also have much in common. The repetition is beautifully done. The whole BOOK is. Definitely a keeper (and I WILL try the recipe myself - maybe over Spring Break, which starts today here!). And if you pick it up, be sure to check the illustrator note out to find out how she created the endpapers. (Not saying any more!)

Hope you'll give this book a look - and check out the OTHER perfect picture books for today at Susanna's blog - and Susanna's ever-growing list of wonderful picture books. 


My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer. Psalm 45:1

I Need My Own Country! - Perfect Picture Book Friday

I'll admit it. The title got me. As I was perusing the picture book shelves at my local library, this book jumped out and grabbed me - and wouldn't let me go. Cuz who hasn't thought this at some point??

The best part? Reading (and looking at) the book kept me in that zone. Absolutely.

And so, I present to you another fabulous book to add to Susanna Leonard Hill's Perfect Picture Book Friday list.

Title: I Need My Own Country!

Author: Rick Walton

Illustrator: Wes Hargis

Publisher:Bloomsbury USA, 2012, fiction

Age Range: 4-8 years

Theme/Topics:civics, humor, sibling conflict

First Page: There comes a time in all kids' lives when they need to create their own country.

Synopsis: When in the course of childhood events, it becomes necessary for one (small) person to create a separate and equal hiding spot to which the laws of growing up entitle them, the truth will be self-evident: they should declare their very own country!

Full of tongue-in-cheek instructions-

• Make your own flag.
• Your own currency.
• Your own laws.

-this picture book offers a hilarious lesson in junior civics that shows every budding future-president exactly how he or she can create a very special place all their own.

Resources: There are some great ideas for creating a country and other related topis at the International Literacy Association page for this book.

Why I LOVE it: First of all, it is EXACTLY the kind of book I would LOVE to be able to write. The words and the illustrations absolutely, positively depend on one another. It isn't a comprehensible book as only illustrations - or as only text (at least, you wouldn't get the whole message). I am ABSOLUTELY studying this one as a mentor text. Plus, it's quite funny - both the illustrations and the text. And it's super creative. And it is a VERY fun way to introduce young kids to government.

Hope you'll give this book a look - and check out the OTHER perfect picture books for today at Susanna's blog - and Susanna's ever-growing list of wonderful picture books.


My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer. Psalm 45:1