Today’s Fantastic Fiction for Kids selection comes from Nancy at Bees Knees Reads. Nancy has two girls, aged 4 and 6, and they live in a small town on the coast in northern California.Three years ago she started blogging about picture books with her sister Kim Baise at Bees Knees Reads and around the same time they developed a start-up press, Bees Knees Books to collaborate with author/illustrators and publish picture books. They released two books in 2009: Maybelle, Bunny of the North by Keith Patterson and A Wonderful Week by Marjolein Varekamp. If all this weren’t enough to keep Nancy busy she also runs a bookstore – Coastside Books! I’m sure Nancy has bad days like the rest of us, but her existence sounds quite idyllic to me 🙂
Nancy’s theme this week is “shifting perspectives”. Of selecting these books Nancy wrote “Although two of the stories have characters with disabilities (blind and deaf) the stories are really more about looking at the world (or one’s own experience) from a different viewpoint. And I think the story, I Feel A Foot, which is a retelling of a Sufi fable illustrates that theme perhaps most obviously. One of my favorite sayings is, “Don’t believe everything you think!” And these three books playfully challenge the reader to shift her perspective many times.”
The Black Book of Colors by Menena Cottin and illustrated by Rosana Faria.The author and illustrator are from Venezuela and the book was first published in Spanish. It is beautiful in it’s conception and production. The pages are black with embossed illustrations and Braille underneath the lettering so the reader must touch the pages, shifting one’s senses from sight to touch. The narrator is guided by Thomas who is blind and he describes color by how he feels or experiences color. There is a great excerpt and review here. After reading this book together you can ask children to close their eyes and imagine/describe what different colors look like. Is Thomas’ world black or is it rich with color?
The Deaf Musicians by Pete Seeger and Paul Dubois Jacobs, illustrated by Gregory R. ChristiePete Seeger is a lyrical storyteller, probably because he is a musician. He dedicated this story to his deaf father and knew that deaf people still enjoy music even without hearing. It’s possible to learn a new way of communicating through music and in this case through music and sign language. This story is about a jazz musician who loses his hearing and has to learn sign language. He starts a new band whose members are also deaf and now sign their music. This story is a really fun jazzy read-aloud. A longer review can be found at Bees Knees Reads.
I feel a Foot! by Maranke Rinck, illustrated by Martijn van der Linden.Imagine a turtle, bat, octopus, bird and goat asleep in their hammock. Turtle hears a noise. They all go to investigate in the pitch black. What each animal bumps into and what each believes he’s found weaves a tale about differences of perspective and experience. The discovery of an elephant (who later joins them all in the hammock) is revealed after each animal has come to a different conclusion. Visually this book is a treat with its vivid colors and patterns. And did I mention it’s funny? [Zoe adds: Click here and scroll to the bottom of the page if you would like to see illustrations from inside this book]
I (Zoe) have not yet read it, but I just came across a review of The Seeing Stick over at Planet Esme – this lovely sounding book (by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Daniela Jaglenka) sounds like it would go perfectly with the three books suggested by Nancy today.
As to some music to enjoy today you could try:
Some activities which could go with today’s books include:
It was a bit of challenge for me today to come up with music and activity suggestions so if you have any that would work well with these books, please do let me know via the comments!
Thanks once again to Nancy for our great list of books today. Please do pop over to Bees Knees Reads and say hi to her and her sister!
Andi
These sound like great books! As an activity, how about painting or sculpting with your eyes closed (or blindfolded)? It is such a different feeling to create something based on touch and feel alone.
Janelle @ Brimful Curiosities
My daughter just started learning a little sign language at school. She loves talking with her hands and can say I love you (mom, dad, grandpa, grandma). She really caught on quick!
Nancy
I’ll have to check out that reissue of The Seeing Stick! And I really like the music suggestions especially Beethoven’s later works, when he lost his hearing. I know this was a challenge. Something I like to do with the kids in the car on the way to school is to ask them to name the different instruments they hear in a piece of music. This gives them the awareness of different ways of hearing the music.
Carrie, Reading My Library
What a cool and unique theme! Can’t say I have any song suggestions though. =)
Zoe
I’ve just come across another book I think might fit well with this theme – Moses Goes to A Concert by Isaac Millman, about a class of deaf children attending an orchestral concert
vanessa@silly eagle books
I just checked out The Black Book of Colors two weeks ago and have a post about it coming up! I thought it was wonderful and juliet loved it. I can’t wait to find these other ones. Great post.