Picture Books

Sometimes a book comes along that is truly outstanding! The acknowledgments page alone of this new book by Dianna Hutts is truly impressive! The text is captivating, telling stories that fascinate young and old readers about all sorts of seeds. I bet many an amateur botanist will have never heard about some of these! The illustrations--just gorgeous--complement this high quality picture book. Our children are learning Botany this semester at Homeschool Co-op and this volume is an excellent enrichment. We have the authors' other one as well--An Egg Is Quiet--also excellent!

Truly a "living book" in the fullest sense, An Egg is Quiet is a visual delight, full of soft, gentle colors and beautiful pages that manages to incorporate a great deal of scientific information without looking like a science book at all. This is a field guide to eggs for the youngest scientists, perhaps through the early elementary grades, that also feels like a story book with a surprise, but not wholly unexpected, ending. It will be nearly impossible to resist drawing and sketching and painting from the numerous illustrations in the text; a young or young-at-heart nature artist will be busy for days and days. Featuring eggs from birds, reptiles, and insects, the primary text on each page appears in a large, calligraphic cursive font so that Mother may not need her reading glasses. Supplementary notes about specific illustrations are included in an easier-to-read, smaller printed font. An Egg is Quiet is a perfect addition to your Lenten reading basket or any springtime nature study. Be sure to bring home a new sketch pad and color pencils when you bring home this book!

Non-fiction, early elementary

Note Bene: This was just announced as the winner of the Cybil Award for Non-Fiction Picture Books.

This is a lovely picture book about, naturally, beginnings. The simple but descriptive storyline, along with vibrant illustrations, take you through signs of new things - like a tomato plant, a tree and a thunderstorm. These capture the beauty of different aspects of God's creation, but only show the simple ways that we see what's coming next.

The story culminates in looking at the questions of where *we* come from and answers it in the simplest and most innocent way, focusing on the love of God who "chose the perfect place for you, inside the safe, warm shelter of your mother's womb..."

The author gives a nice balance in helping the child see himself as one part of God's beautiful creation, but one with a very unique role that exceeds that of the animals and plants around us and that was specially intended by God.

The title clearly explains what this book is all about: Gibson took the twelve months of the year, wove in the liturgical celebrations and linked these to marvelous picture books – creating a mosaic of Catholic culture and beautiful literature.

But this book is much more than an annotated book list, although that is included too. Gibson gives suggested questions for you to discuss with your children. She gives suggested copywork – that is, quotes that children memorize or use for handwriting practice. She gives ideas for activities that will reinforce the meaning of the particular book. She helps families to truly live and embrace the wondrous Catholic traditions connected to feast days, liturgical celebrations and other things Catholic.

Some of the books described and linked in this book are Catholic illustrated classics – books like Weight of a Mass by Josephine Nobisso, Song of the Swallows by Leo Politi and St. George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges are extremely popular with many Catholic parents and children. But Gibson goes beyond the “Catholic classics” and mentions books like The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen (illustrated by Rachel Isadora) and The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein and how you can apply Catholic teachings to these books, giving your children a rich and lasting understanding of our Catholic culture.

In total, Gibson integrates FIFTY-TWO illustrated children’s books with the Catholic calendar and Catholic living. Books that cover the Mass, First Communion, various saints and important liturgical seasons are included. In addition, she suggests other books which may also work (but omits questions and activities linked to these “second-string” books some of which unfortunately are out-of-print or hard-to-find).

All the primary books are easily attainable from booksellers; in addition, books by popular authors like Tomie dePaola are usually available at public libraries so as not to strain your book budget too much. However, after seeing these books, you might want to have good copies for your home library. Gibson has selected books not only for the meaning in their words, but also for the beauty of their illustrations. These books could easily be used as an art study in conjunction with the literature, religion and other subjects covered in these books.

Further resources that Gibson gives the reader are suggestions for creating and maintaining a “Liturgical Notebook” throughout the year – a memory scrapbook of this literature-based journey – as well as incorporating some of the traditional Catholic homeschool resources (for example, CHC’s A Year with God or Seton’s Art 1).

Run, don’t walk, to get a copy of this book. I know I sound effusive, but this book is remarkable in its ambitious objective which is stunningly successful. This is one of those homeschooling volumes that needs to be on every Catholic resource shelf – that is, when it’s not being used!