Seven Days of Picture Books - Day Two

During Children's Book Week and Reading is Fun week, I will be reviewing a picture book every day. Here is the second picture book review for the Through the Looking Glass Nine Days of Picture Books event. I chose this book because the artwork is so delightful, and because the story has a magical element that is quite unique. 

A most Vivid Day

Justin Young

Picture Book

Ages 4 to 8

Golden Tree Press, 2010, 978-0-9785418-1-1
   One night a bat called Tommy goes with the other bats to find his daily meal. Tommy finds an apple tree, and he is just about to take a big bite out of one of the apples when a caterpillar tells him that the apple is not ripe. “You should pick a ripe apple that is a delicious red color,” says the caterpillar. The problem is that Tommy has no idea what red is. Being an animal of the night, he has never seen colors before, and he is not convinced that the caterpillar is telling the truth.

   Tommy decides to stay up to see what color is, and when the sun rises, he sees, for the first time, what blue, green, red, and orange looks like. Everything the sun paints with his paintbrush gets a color that delights the eye. The sun not only paints the sky, the flowers, and the grass, but he also paints all the animals, and Tommy decides that he too would like to have a color; he would like to be red!

   Children are sure to enjoy this story, which explores the idea that beauty truly is all around us. In addition, the author looks at the ways in which problems can be solved amicably if people will just be civil and generous towards each other.

   Full of gorgeous watercolor paintings that are bright and full of life, this book is sure to become a bedtime reading favorite. 

A picture book a day for Children's Book Week and Reading is Fun Week

The next seven days days are special in the children's book world because Children's Book Week is from May 10th to May 16th and Reading is Fun Week is from May 9th through 16th. In celebration of these days, I am going to post a review of a picture book every day. I chose picture books because it gives me the opportunity to enjoy reading and reviewing some of the treasures that I have sitting on my shelves. I hope you will join me every day for this Seven Days of Picture Books event.

Here is today's picture book review:

The Red Chalk

Iris van der Heide

Illustrated by Marije Tolman

Picture Book

Ages 5 to 7

Boyds Mills Press, 2006, 978-1-932425-79-6

   Sara has a stick of red chalk and she tries to draw on the sidewalk with it, but the sidewalk is so bumpy that “none of her pictures turned out right.” Luckily for Sara, Tim is willing to trade his marbles for her “magic” chalk. Sara tells Tim that everything that he draws with the chalk “will come to life.” Not surprisingly, Tim is more than happy to make the trade.

   After playing with the marbles for just a short while, Sara decides that the marbles are “no fun at all.”  Down on the beach she sees Sam. Sam has a delicious looking red lollipop, and Sara soon comes up with a way to get Sam to trade her sweet treat for Sara’s marbles; Sara tells Sam that the marbles are “real pearls from the ocean,” and Sam is happy to trade her lollipop for the marbles. The problem is that Sam soon discovers that this trade isn’t going to work for her either.

   In this lovely picture book, the author tells a story that some children, and a few adults, will find familiar. Like Sara, many of us are always eager to have what someone else has. We don’t use our imaginations to see that we have right now has great potential. Marije Tolman compliments the text with deliciously emotive illustrations that are touched with humor, and that add a special magical dimension to the story. 

You can download a charming Children's Book Week bookmark here.When you open the page, right-click on the image and save it to your computer. Print the bookmark on heavy paper, then cut out around the dotted line. Then you can draw in your own favorite character and keep a list of your favorite books! Enjoy!

Children's Book Week is May 10th to May16th

This is what the folks on the Children's Book Week website had to say about this wonderful event:

Since 1919, Children's Book Week has been celebrated nationally in schools, libraries, bookstores, clubs, private homes -- any place where there are children and books. Educators, librarians, booksellers, and families have celebrated children's books and the love of reading with storytelling, parties, author and illustrator appearances, and other book-related events.

It all began with the idea that children's books can change lives. In 1913, Franklin K. Matthiews, the librarian of the Boy Scouts of America, began touring the country to promote higher standards in children's books. He proposed creating a Children's Book Week, which would be supported by all interested groups: publishers, booksellers, and librarians.

Mathiews enlisted two important allies: Frederic G. Melcher, the visionary editor of Publishers Weekly, and Anne Carroll Moore, the Superintendent of Children's Works at the New York Public Library and a major figure in the library world. With the help of Melcher and Moore, in 1916 the American Booksellers Association and the American Library Association cooperated with the Boy Scouts in sponsoring a Good Book Week.

In 1944, the newly-established Children's Book Council assumed responsibility for administering Children's Book Week. In 2008, Children’s Book Week moved from November to May. At that time, responsibility for Children’s Book Week, including planning official events and creating original materials, was transferred to Every Child a Reader, the philanthropic arm of the children’s publishing industry.

Also in 2008, the Children's Book Council created the Children's Choice Book Awards, the only national child-chosen book awards program, giving young readers a powerful voice in their own reading choices.

The need for Children’s Book Week today is as essential as it was in 1919, and the task remains the realization of Frederic Melcher’s fundamental declaration: “A great nation is a reading nation.”

You can find ideas for Children's Book Week on the CBW website here (for children) and here (for teens). Happy Children's Book Week.

Children's Book Week May 11-17

Goodness! I almost forgot to remind you that it is Children's Book Week. Join Olivia and your favorite children's book characters in this week-long celebration of children's literature. Some places to visit on the web for ideas and printables are:

Book Week Online - The official website

Education World - ideas and lesson plans for book week

About Children's Book Week - lots of information and ideas

I hope you enjoy this week, and that you share lots of splendid books with the children in your lives.

Bookish Happenings in October

October is a great month for book lovers. In the United States October is National Book Month and I hope you will take this opportunity to read, discuss, share and enjoy books with the young people in your lives. Do visit the National Book Foundation website to get ideas about what you can do to make this a really bookish month.


October is also the month when we in the United States celebrate Teen Read Week. The week is from October 12th to October 18th and the theme for 2008, Books with Bite, is sure to provide teen readers with lots of entertaining possibilites. For more information visit the ALA Teen Read Week website.


The UK also has a book celebration during October. From October 6th to October 12th libraries, schools, and book shops will be participating in Book Week festivities. To find out more about this event visit the Book Trusted website. This years theme is Rhythm and Rhyme and I am sure you will be able to find all kinds of creative ways to make this week special.