Leslie
Patricelli’s books are simple in style & concept, but huge on fun. The art & action are bright & sassy; the
simplicity and the brevity of text keep things moving along quickly, but I
always slow down to appreciate the artistry on each page: look at the texture of the acrylic on canvas—you
can almost feel it! The Patricelli books
I’ve read seem to be about different members of the same family; another thing
they have in common is a celebration of imagination. Here are just a few titles to get you
started:
The Birthday
Box
The baby got
a birthday present—what is it? It’s a
BOX! There’s something IN the box, but the baby loves the container so much, he
may well be part cat. It’s a tribute to
the joy of imagination that goes will with Antoinette Portis’s Not a Box.
Higher! Higher!
How high can
you go? Most children don’t seem to want
to be pushed TOO high in a swing—I remember it getting kind of scary once I was
above the bar—but for the little girl in this book, the moon is not
enough! As you read this with your
child, it’s fun to ask what the girl sees now, what you think she may see next,
and whether or not it’s all real.
No No Yes
Yes
The baby is
back, demonstrating good & not-so-good behaviors: drawing on the walls is a
no-no; drawing on paper is a yes-yes.
The behavior gets increasingly outrageous—I express extreme outrage
during storytime when the baby tears pages out of a book—and with any luck, way
outside the range of what any child of yours would ever do! The book offers a great opportunity for you
& your little one to discuss what is a “no-no” and what is a “yes-yes” in
your own home, & perhaps collaborate on a book of your own.
Faster! Faster!
The girl who
wanted to go higher now wants to go faster!
She rides her daddy’s back, urging him to go faster than a bunny, faster
than a horse, faster than a cheetah! How
fast can Daddy go, and for how long?
After you’ve
checked these out, let me know what you think!
And if there are any books you’re really excited about—by Leslie
Patricelli, or not—please tell me all about them!
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