How to Read a Book

Goodreads Choice Awards Project: Read as many of the opening round Best Picture Book nominees as possible. 10 to go!

Visual and verbal gibberish make for the instruction manual from hell. Why did a copy of Bambi have to be sacrificed for this collage-strophe?

And I was never able to ascertain the

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purpose of the recurring X's, targets and asterisks. Any ideas?

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Poetically colorful, this book gets young readers ready to read. The illustrations are amazingly done using different textures and clippings from books and magazines. This book can be read to a first grade class to inspire them to read using vivid illustrations and meaningful words about reading.

Kwame Alexander, the recipient of many awards and honors and the author of 32 books, many of which have also won awards, wrote the poem that forms the narrative of this book. It is a testament to the joy and power of reading.

He advises readers to “get real cozy between the covers and let your

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fingers wonder as they wander…” He suggests they “squeeze every morsel of each plump line until the last drop of magic drips from the infinite sky….”

“Don’t rush through,” he admonishes: “Your eyes need time to taste. Your soul needs room to bloom.”

Melissa Sweet adds a creative mix of collage and watercolor illustrations which include neon colors. She writes in a note at the end of the book that she was inspired by a warn-out copy of the beloved children’s book Bambi as well as a poem about poetry by Nikki Giovanni. Intermittent gatefolds mimic the surprises awaiting readers as they delve into books.

Evaluation: The combination of Alexander’s evocative poetry and Sweet’s playful and detailed artwork provides a treat for both the eyes and ears. Readers (age 4 and up) will find much to discover on every page, and will want to go through the book over and over.

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I think I am one of the few people who did not really care for this book. The illustrations are great, heck they are amazing. But the story is lacking. The word play is catchy but some of the concepts might be hard for those with a limited vocabulary. I like the idea of the book, but not the

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completed vision.
#WinterGames2020 #TeamReadNosedReindeer +16

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