A Child of Books
10:30
First sentence: I am a child of books. I come from a world of stories and upon my imagination I float.
Premise/plot: Books are celebrated in Oliver Jeffers' newest picture book. The illustrations are both simple and complex. Many illustrations feature a young girl and boy. Most pages also feature illustrations crafted out of the text of many, many books. For example, a path is created using the text of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Or a mountain is created using the text of Peter Pan and Wendy. Or tree branches are created using the text of several fairy tales. Each two-page spread is well-worth an adult's time.
My thoughts: I really liked this one. The narrative itself is beautiful, definitely poetic. I think the narrative is simple enough that it could work as a read aloud for almost any age. (Well, maybe not babies and toddlers and preschoolers with almost nonexistent attention spans.) The illustrations add a lot of depth and complexity. This element would probably be lost for a group read aloud, but, perhaps preserved in reading one on one with a child. Adults could definitely spend a LOT of time looking carefully at every single page. If you've read a lot, you may recognize phrases from the illustrations that 'jump' out at you.
Text: 5 out of 5
Illustrations: 4 out of 5
Total: 9 out of 10
© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
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