One of my students was on a picture book reading binge. She brought me The Pencil, by Allan Ahlberg and suggested it for #classroombookaday. In the story (which another student thought had the feel of a religious creation story) nothing exists but a pencil. Then the pencil draws the world into existence. Things start getting out of hand, so the pencil draws an eraser. Even that doesn't work, so the pencil draws another eraser and they annihilate each other (Noah's Ark, anyone?). The pencil starts over. Carefully.
While we were on the subject of erasers, I had to read my favorite eraser book, The Eraserheads by Kate Banks. These erasers come to life and have adventures. Are the eraserheads alive for real, or just in the imagination of the boy? You decide.
I had just read The Book of Mistakes by Corinna Luyken, and it seemed like the perfect next read. In it, the creator, in the course of drawing, makes mistakes and then makes the mistakes into something wanted. Total surprise ending in this one. It will blow your mind.
The fourth book in this set is one I put out for students to pore over and ponder on their own because it's wordless -- Lines by Suzy Lee. In this book, the lines are made by the blades of an ice skater's skates.
Then, surprise of surprises, this weekend I read Sam & Eva by Debbie Ridpath Ohi. Two children (are they drawing on the walls?!?!) can't agree on what to draw. Then, their drawings pick up on the escalating disagreement and things really start to get out of hand. Literally. The two children draw an escape and start over -- each offering an olive branch to the other.
There's something quite magical about the connections between books!
