We haven't added a book to our BOOKS ABOUT BOOKS AND READING booklist in a while. I just found a new one at Cover to Cover called WHAT ARE YOU DOING
by Elisa Amado. This book is a simple story with gorgeous illustrations by Manuel Monroy. (From the jacket flap, I learned that he is one of Mexico's most celebrated illustrators and from this book, I can see why!)It is Chepito's first day of school, but before the day begins, he walks around town and finds lots of people reading. To each one he asks, "What are you doing?". He then follows up with the questions, "Why?". Each reader is reading something different--from a newspaper, to the comics, to a manual, to a fashion magazine. And each reader has a different reason for reading. The story ends with Chepito going to school and discovering the joy of books. This simple story will start lots of great conversations around books and the reasons we read. The repeated phrases and predictable storyline make it perfect for young readers. An added bonus for our family was to discover that the author, Elisa Amado is a Guatemalan-born author and translator.
Lovely. I also recently read a book (to my four year old niece) called "Read Me A Book" by Barbara Reid. The illustrations were all made out of clay and were really beautiful. The whole story was about the different ways we read. It was one of those "short and sweet" stories. Here is a link: http://www.scholastic.ca/titles/readmeabook/
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the great books about books! I love to open my year with these great read alouds!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this one! I used it as a springboard for my university level students as a way to introduce an activity they'll do to "notice" all of the reading they do in a 24 hour period!
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