Showing posts with label biography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label biography. Show all posts

Four Picture Book Reviews

I'm catching up on some picture book reviews today. I highly recommend all four of these books.


This inspiring picture book biography is about William Carlos Williams, a family doctor who always loved to write poetry. He influenced American poetry by writing about common, everyday things, such as fire trucks, wheelborrows, plums, etc. When these things didn't fit into traditional rhyme and rhythm, he came up with his own type of freestyle poetry.

A River of Words is a great story with stunning, modern illustrations. You hardly even realize you are reading a biography.

**Tip: After we read this together, we cut words out of old magazines and formed them into poems. It was a fun project to follow up with.


Zero can be a confusing concept, but this book explains it well through the eyes of a child. It says, "Zero is ...the balls in the bin at recess time...the leaves on the bare, brown arms of the oak tree...the sound of snowflakes." Do you hear how poetic it is? Like the last book, this book is teaching a concept without being boring in any way.


This book is just fun. Well, I shouldn't say 'just', because it has a great message, too.

Henry, a rabbit who loves to read and write, is convinced that a ship full of crazy chicken pirates is coming to steal all his loot. Nobody believes him, of course, so he has to take matters into his own hands. He researches about dealing with chicken pirates and writes his own book about it. When the pirates show up, Henry saves the day.

This story is heaps of fun and encourages a love of reading and writing (which, you know, I'm kinda passionate about...).


Henry (yes, another one...) finds a hat in the park and imagines all the great things he could do with it. He could use it for a sled or a boat or to protect himself from rain or crocodiles. Will he keep it? What if someone else needs it ?

I love simple picture books that spur the imagination. Sparse text and bright illustrations make this book a pleasure to read over and over.

Book Review: Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza



I have another great book club book to share with you. It has a bit of violence. It is about living through a massacre, after all, but it's inspiring. It's a true, life-changing book like The Hiding Place.

Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza
Book Review by me, Emily

The subtitle of this book says it all...Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust. While the unthinkable is happening all around her, Immaculee Ilibagiza finds peace in God's love.

Immaculee grew up in a Rwandan paradise. It wasn't until she was ten, that she even learned the words Hutu and Tutsi. When her teacher began taking ethnic roll call, she didn't know which tribe she belonged to. However, prejudices deepened into hatred, and when Immaculee was 24, a massive genocide took place. It is estimated that a million Tutsis were killed in three months.

Immaculee hid in a bathroom with six other women. The space was so small, that they had to take turns standing. When someone needed to use the toilet, everyone had to shift to accomodate her. The ladies nearly starved to death. Worse still, they could her the killers outside looking for them, chanting horrible death songs.

Immaculee spent nearly all her time praying in that bathroom. The women couldn't talk to one another because they might be heard, so Immaculee talked to God, who spared their lives because of her prayers.

Each time it seemed that Immaculee's life would end or that there was no way to go on, she prayed "show me" how to do this, and God would literally show her what to do.

I was touched by this story. I think it will make a wonderful book to discuss in my book club.