Sunday, April 27, 2008

3 Picture Books: How I Learned Geography,In a Blue Room, Ladybug Girl

How I Learned Geography by Uri Shulevitz
Having fled from war in their troubled homeland, a boy and his family are living in poverty in a strange country. Food is scarce, so when the boy's father brings home a map instead of bread for supper, at first the boy is furious. But when the map is hung on the wall, it floods their cheerless room with color. As the boy studies its every detail, he is transported to exotic places without ever leaving the room, and he eventually comes to realize that the map feeds him in a way that bread never could.

In a Blue Room by Jim Averbeck
Alice is wide, wide awake. Mama brings flowers, tea, a quilt, even lullaby bells to help her sleep. But none of these things are blue, and Alice can sleep only in a blue room. Yet when the light goes out, a bit of magic is stirred up. Pale blue moonlight swirls into her bedroom window. Then the night swirls out, around the moon and into the universe, leaving Alice fast alseep in a most celestial blue room.
Lulu's older brother says she is too little to play with him. Her mama and papa are busy too, so Lulu has to make her own fun. This is a situation for Ladybug Girl!
Ladybug Girl saves ants in distress, jumps through shark-infested puddles, and even skips along the great dark twisty tree trunk-all by herself. It doesn't matter what her brother says, Ladybug Girl is definitely not too little!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shulevitz's simply worded text can be read to preschoolers, but it packs an emotional punch that will resonate with older children and even adults. The watercolor and ink illustrations add further depth as Shulevitz switches from a monochrome palette to a chorus of colors spotlighting how the map stirred his imagination.

Anonymous said...

Since 1963, Uri Shulevitz has commanded attention...Forty-five years, a Caldecott Medal, numerous honors and more than 40 titles later, he now gives us his first explicitly autobiographical story. It is a masterpiece...