Imagine That!

Here are two books that will inspire children to use their imaginations.

What's Your Favorite Food?
by Eric Carle and Friends
Henry Holt and Co., 2019
library copy

Each illustrator chose a favorite food, wrote a little about it, and illustrated it in his/her own unique way. Not only is it fun to see which of OUR favorite foods are THEIR favorite foods, we get to see (in the illustrator bios in the back) each of the illustrators as a child! Yes, their bio photos are of themselves as children. Lookie there! Kids that look like YOU who grew up to become famous illustrators! Imagine that!

It Began With a Page: How Gyo Fujikawa Drew the Way
by Kyo Maclear
illustrated by Julie Morstad
HarperCollins, 2019
library copy

Gyo Fujikawa's life as an artist intersected with historical events that shaped who she was and what she believed about her art. In this picture book biography, we see her drawing from a very young age, then, after high school, attending art school in the mid-1920's on scholarship. She worked for Disney in the early 1940's, saw her family sent to internment camps during the war, witnessed the beginnings of the Civil Rights Movement. In the early 1060s, she submitted her groundbreaking book illustrated with multiracial characters and didn't back down when the publisher said children of different races should not be in the same book. It is thanks to her (and other bookmakers such as Ezra Jack Keats) that all kinds of kids can see characters who look like them in more picture books than ever. Imagine that!

Poetry and Imagination

Poem-Mobiles: Crazy Car Poems
by J. Patrick Lewis and Douglas Florian
illustrated by Jeremy Holmes
Schwartz & Wade, 2014

As I noted last Wednesday, J. Patrick Lewis' anthology title says it all: "Everything is a Poem." Last Thursday, we looked at science in poetry, Monday we looked at nature in poetry. Tuesday, the focus was on history in poetry, yesterday we took a look at biography in poetry. Today, let's have fun with imagination in poetry.

The subtitle of this book says it all: "Crazy Car Poems."

If that didn't get your attention, check out the co-authors -- J. Patrick Lewis and Douglas Florian. Now you KNOW you're in for some fun, right?

If you're still not sure, here's a bit from the introduction poem, "Introduction:"

"...But someday our fantastic cars
Might look like cool dark chocolate bars,

Banana splits, hot dogs or fish --
Or any kind of ride you wish..."

This book is all kinds of imaginative fun. The plays on words are groan-worthy, and the illustrations are a blast.

Poem-Mobiles was reviewed by Jama at Jama's Alphabet Soup (check out the picture of the Teddy-Go-Cars -- doesn't that make you want to use up some of the leftover Halloween candy making Snickermobiles?)

Becky has the Poetry Friday roundup this week at Tapestry of Words.

Imagination

A Pirate's Guide to Recess
by James Preller
illustrated by Greg Ruth
Feiwel & Friends (June 18, 2013)

review copy provided by the publisher

I can't think of another book that portrays so beautifully (text plus illustration) what imaginative play at recess looks and feels like. Spot on perfect.

The imaginative play I witness while on recess duty usually involves the reenactment of TV cartoons and video games, but the imagination being used is exactly the same.

On the subject of imaginative play, doesn't this look like just about too much fun? This is on my #mileaday route in my hometown.

Pets

Prudence Wants a Pet
by Cathleen Daly
illustrations by Stephen Michael King
Roaring Brook Press, 2011
review copy provided by the publisher

Prudence really really wants a pet, but her parents (seen only from the waste down in the illustrations) tell her they cost too much and make noise. So Prudence gets a pet branch. Branch is an outdoor pet who lives on the front porch and who has tripped Prudence's father eight times. "Dad broke Branch into little bits and put them on the woodpile." But Prudence is not daunted. She has a new pet. Its name is Twig. But Twig lives in her pocket and one day Twig runs away in the rinse cycle. Prudence tries one unique, inanimate pet after another. Her persistence finally gets her parents' attention -- just in time for her birthday.

Another review at Colby Sharp's blog sharpread.

Jane and Mizmow
by Matthew S. Armstrong
Harper, 2011
review copy provided by the publisher

This is a different kind of pet book. Jane has a pet -- a monster she finds in a red cap at the base of a tree (what is it with red caps this year???). Jane and Mizmow are best friends until the day they argue over the red hat, warm from the dryer, and pull it into two parts. Then, just like the hat, the two friends are pulled apart. Luckily, they find a way to repair their friendship in the end.

If you've read any of the FLIGHT graphic novel short story anthologies edited by Kazu Kibuishi, that's where you've met these characters before. This book has a graphic novel feel to it, and would have worked perfectly well as a wordless picture book -- the captions seem like an afterthought.

Another review at Lori Calabrese Writes!

The Gift of Imagination

Are there still children who love to play with the box as much as they love to play with the item that came in it? I hope so!

I know for sure that there are still children who will create a dollhouse and dolls from scraps of paper, because there's one in my fourth grade class.

Here are a few books for those who have the gift of imagination, or for those who would blow the dust off theirs and bring it out to play.

Sea of Dreams
by Dennis Nolan
Roaring Brook Press, 2011
review copy provided by the publisher

In this gorgeous wordless picture book, a light comes on in the sandcastle the little girl leaves to the tides on the beach. As the waters swirl around the castle, a family escapes in a boat, survives a wild ride in a storm, and eventually washes up again to settle with a family of gulls. The girl comes back to the beach and makes another sandcastle, watched over by a gull. And as the sun sets and the tides wash around the castle, a light comes on in the tower window...

A Few Blocks
by Cybèle Young
Groundwood Books, 2011
review copy provided by the publisher

Ferdie doesn't want to go to school. "Not now," he said. "Maybe never..." But Ferdie's sister Viola knows how to get him moving. She holds out his coat and says, "Ferdie, look! I found your superfast cape! Quick -- put on your rocket-blaster books and we'll take off!" At this point, the black and white pencil sketch illustrations turn into full color 3-D paper sculptures...for as long as Ferdie's imagination stays engaged. Then Viola must come up with another imaginative scenario. In the end, Viola gets tired of having to be the one that provides the impetus to get Ferdie to school...but he comes through, and the two find the strength to walk the final block to school.

Inkblot: Drip, Splat, and Squish Your Way to Creativity
by Margaret Peot
Boyds Mills Press, 2011
review copy provided by the publisher

With a very few supplies (don't forget the apron -- India ink is permanent) and the easy-to-follow directions in this book, you could be the first inkblot artist on your block!

Not only are the directions clear, but the chapters progress nicely from the most basic to the most complicated designs/techniques. Spattered throughout the text (yes, pun intended) are short bios of "Inkblot Heroes," including (you guessed it) Hermann Rorschach, and others such as Victor Hugo, Justinus Kerner and Stefan G. Bucher.

The chapter on the Inkblot Sketchbook journal is the one that tugs at my imagination most strongly. Surely I've got a spare blank book somewhere on my shelves...I've got the ink, and I've got an apron...

PRESS HERE by Herve Tullet

It's not magic -- it's the power of your imagination!





Press Here
by Herve Tullet
Chronicle Books, 2011
review copy provided by the publisher

This book will make you smile. When you rub the dot and it changes color on the next page...when you clap over the dots and they grow...when you tilt the book and they all slide to the other side.

There's an app for that -- your IMAGINATION!!