November is....Picture Book Month!

-
http://picturebookmonth.com/

November is, indeed, Picture Book Month. This is an international initiative that celebrates the beauty, wonder and importance of picture books in print. Please follow the link above....these wonderful people will tell you everything you need to know about Picture Book Month.
Every day in November, there is a new post by one of the selected picture book champions. Here, they explain why they feel picture books are so important. We live in a digital age. (Well, you are reading this on a blog.) Every day it seems someone is proclaiming the death of books in print. But we cannot deny the importance and the joy of books in print. Particularly, picture books. No other form of media has the broad ranging affects on the lives of children as the picture book. This is where we learn to read. We have our very first exposure to visual art through picture books. And the sense of awareness and observational skills that comes with sharing a picture book with small children (or even with adults!) continues to serve us well throughout our entire lifetime. But, in a digital age, picture books need love! And we all need picture books.

Today's entry is by Aaron Becker; the creator of the marvellous, incredible picture books Journey and Quest. These wordless picture books take you on journeys of wonder and beauty, while they relate stories that stay with you forever more. Here's a quote to start you off:
"The picture book is a physical object that demands our engagement and attention. It does this without beeps or whistles or touch screens or promises of something faster, better, and more efficient. It tells us we can take our time."



Follow the link for Aaron's post and join the journey.
http://picturebookmonth.com/2014/11/why-picture-books-are-important-by-aaron-becker/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Rights of the Reader

-
Image
The Rights of the Reader; Daniel Pennac, illustrated by Quentin Blake Summer is here and we do encourage summer reading with numerous incentives and programmes. It is important for children (of all ages) to 'keep their reading up' outside of school time. This is the time when kids develop their own taste in books and can be free to read books of their own choosing. And this is the single most important factor in young people developing a lifelong reading habit. But how do we, as the 'gatekeepers' of kids reading, encourage them properly without running the risk of thrusting pressure and our own ideas on them? Do that and you'll run the risk of pushing them away from reading, and there are already so many distractions for the young reader to contend with that can tempt them elsewhere. Published by Walker Books; 9781406300918 In 1992, French writer Daniel Pennac originally published this little gem of a book; The Rights of the Reader. I highly recommend
Read more

The Summer of Lily and Esme by John Quinn....25 years

-
Image
This year marks the anniversary of the publication of an extraordinary book. In 1991, Poolbeg published The Summer of Lily & Esme by John Quinn and in the 25 years since, it has never been out of print. The Summer of Lily & Esme tells a quiet story, filled with compassion, friendship, memory and heart. It is the story of Alan, an 11-year-old boy who has moved from the city into a house in the countryside; in the middle of nowhere.The house is old and extremely large and immaculate; and there is a locked, boarded over attic room that is said to be haunted by the ghost of a young boy who died tragically. Alan is not too pleased with this move and becomes even less thrilled when he discovers his closest neighbours, in fact his only neighbours, are a pair of elderly sisters, Esme and Lily, who seem to be suffering from dementia.  When Alan falls down a hill of brambles and weeds, the sisters, who believe they themselves to be children, mistake Alan for their
Read more

Launch of Genesis by Eilis Barrett

-
Image
A week ago, I played a small part of the launch of Genesis , the much-anticipated sequel to Oasis by Eilis Barrett; this time at Charlie Byrnes Bookshop in Galway. Vinny Brown introduces Eilis Eilis is a remarkable young woman, as you might imagine since she is 18 years old and this is her second book. ( Oasis was published when she was 16.) Articulate and accomplished, it is a real privilege to know her, to hear her speak and to read her writing. Genesis author: Eilis Barrett publisher: Gill Books (8 September 2017 ISBN: 9780717174355 Genesis picks up the story of Quincy Emerson. She now finds herself a captive once again, in the maximum-security prison, the Colosseum as a security risk. Held in deplorable and brutal conditions in the prison, where anarchy rules and rival gangs wage a 'street war' of sorts, Quincy takes care to not make an enemy of either gang boss, while holding allegiance to no one but herself and her comrades on the outside. Food is scarce an
Read more