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?Many thanks to all those who responded with suggestions of their favorite
teachable picture
books. I could not respond to all individually, but please accept my thanks
to the group.
The list of picture books I received, along with my original post, is
reposted here. Again, thanks
for all the help! This group is the greatest!
I am looking to create a bibliography of unusual, teachable picture books,
to use with an elementary age book club I am sponsoring. That is, I am
looking for picture books that have something unusual and teachable about
them, especially in the artwork. For examples, I am including William's, A
Chair for My Mother, in which artistic elements are carried through the book
from page to page, MacCauley's Black and White, which is four separate
stories, told in panels, that come together into one story at the end, and
Shannen's Tomorrow's Alphabet, in which the letter K stands for tomato,
which is tomorrow's ketchup, and so on. Other books already on my list
include Agatha's Feather Bed, Q is for Duck, Window, and Zoom. However, I
could use a few more, and I am sure many of you out there have some favorite
picture book that has some unusual element about it. I would appreciate
anyone sending me their favorite books of this type. I will post a hit of
titles received.
Peter Sis books and "Voices in the park" (Point of View) by Anthony
Browne. He also has one on art with Willie in the title.
The Jan Brett books. She shows 2 stories going on
simultaneous in her illustrations: one is the main illustration on the page
and the other is usually in the border of the page.
"Creepy Countdown" (Charlotte Huck, I think). All the
illustrations are excellent scratchboard, mostly black and white with a very
few color areas. The design of the book itself is excellent for pointing out
what makes it so special to kids. The ghost at the front is facing you, and
facing away at the back. There are small "masks" or faces in the border of
each page that change their expression. The story builds to the grand
center-page spread and then ebbs to the end. I'm sure you'll find many more
small details to bring out when you use it.
Stella Louella's Runaway Book. A lost book is
described by each person who finds, reads and passes it on. By paying
attention to the descriptions from people who are doing things/jobs that
correlate to their favorite part, the reader is able to figure out what the
missing book is.
The Snow Lambs by Debi Gliori. It has a lovely parallel with the
illustrations of what is going on with the lost lambs and what is going on
at
home with the family -- action and artistic parallels. Wish I had it here
to
be more specific.
The standard of details in the collage works of Jeanie Baker would put her
in the category you are compiling. Her "Where the forest meets the sea" and
"The window" are quite remarkable as are the other titles she has written
and illustrated.
Albert's Alphabet_, by Leslie Tryon. Albert, the duck, is the
maintenance "person" at the school and has a series of problems
constructing an alphabet walkway. His solutions illustrate principles
of problem solving and innovation.
"Round Trip" by Jonas. It's done in black and white
illustrations. When you finish the book, you turn it around and read it
upside down.
The Butterfly Alphabet by Sandved in which every letter is a pattern found
on
a butterfly wing.
The Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett in which a separate story is told in
pictures on the margins while the first story is on the main page, and a
surprise at the end: the gingerbread baby is not eaten.
If... by Sarah Perry
Oh! by Josse Goffin
Circle Dogs Kevin Henkes
Mem Fox's book Night Noises. As a 95 year old lady sleeps in her chair
waiting for her family, she dreams about her youth. The pictures extend and
in some
ways
Lois Ehlert's Snowballs to teach about collage.
Old Black Fly_ by Jim Aylesworth, illus. by Stephen Gammell--in his wildly
wonderful way those huge red eyes of the fly stare out of almost every
page...
Lunch_ by Denise Fleming--wild combinations and colors all pressed out of
felt.
Alphabet City_, Stephen T. Johnson--are those really meticulous paintings
or just photographs.
Bad Day at Riverbend_ Chris Van Allsburg--surely the most unusual of his
books, although I'd add _The Stranger_ too, for it's viewpoint.
The Happy Hockey Family_ by Lane Smith...a hilarious takeoff on Dick
and Jane, with quirky pictures matching perfectly.
Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback compared to Something for
Nothing by Gilman
The Mitten, by Jan Brett
the borders on each page contain pictures of what else is happening
while the action in the main picture is going on, and are great for
"previewing" or guessing what is going to happen next.
Earthsong, by Lynn Reiser
the pictures on the right hand side of what is happening in the
school play mirror the photographs of space on the left hand side (with the
mother travelling through). Also there is an interesting thing, it appears
to me that there is a mistake - two of the costumed children (Saturn and
Neptune I believe) seem to be mixed up (my 3 yr old noticed this because of
the rings!)
You could use Apt. 3, Jennie's Hat or another Ezra Jack Keats book
for collage. I recently read Keats' The Snowy Day to the kindergarten
classes
and I made a winter collage. Also you may want to use one of Eric Carle's
book and visit his web site where he writes about his illustration methods.
The URL is http://www.eric-carle.com/ Also Rechenka Eggs by Patricia
Polacco is a wonderfully written and illustrated book. She has a great web
site, www.patriciapolacco.com Akiak by Robert J. Blake is excellent example
of oil painting and nature. Blake's The Perfect Spot is wonderful example of
watercolors in nature.
Wordless books such as Weisner's "Tuesday" or "Sector 7".
Or the cut-paper illustrations of any of Wisniewski's books? It's fun to
guess the materials that Ezra Jack Keats uses in his collage illustrations.
And, even though it's a biography, the textures and materials used in "Wilma
Unlimited" give an added layer of dimension to the story. Jan Brett's
borders also add something extra to her stories. The perspective of the
viewer as seen in the illustrations are especially interesting in most of
Van Allsburg's books and Macaulay's "Rome Antics." And I'm sure you are
already aware of the great book "What Do Illustrators Do?" that describes
how two illustrators approach the same story differently.
The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van
Allsburg. This book works great for story starters..
Linda Lucke
LC Director
Butterfield School
Llucke@d70.k12.il.us
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