So why this blog?
Firstly, I love the picture book as a genre. The perfect picture book is like the perfect opera. The meeting of story and illustrations. The one should enrich the other. Of course there are wonderful picture books with stronger stories or illustrations but when it all comes together that makes a great book. My youngest children (twins) are now five and I can see this genre slipping away from me and this blog will give me the excuse I need to - well keep collecting .... Although I'm not sure where I am going to put them!
Secondly, I have become somewhat obsessed to locate chapter books for my older children (7 and 9 years) in an environment where the books they have ready access to come exclusively from catalogues through school which then form the basis of the library collection. These books have their place but I want my children to have more than the formula story and simple language many of these books provide.
I want my children to learn new language: new words, phrases and metaphors from their reading. I want them to lose themselves in the intricacies of a well crafted story, to go places they have never been, to see life through different eyes and to learn that a book might be worth reading even if the language is a bit difficult or the first chapter a bit slow ....
So I began what has become something of an obsession to find books for my children which would encourage them to read and which meet my criteria. I have great lists. I love lists. I ask everybody about books and my friends come to me for suggestions so this is just an extension of that right? Sharing.
Oh I come with my own prejudices and views. I am a mother of four, I work as a lawyer, I go to church, I am married and I grew up in house without a television. I like rules embrace common sense, kindness and good manners ..... Oh and I read a lot ( well I fit it in between everything else )
K
