Picture Books and Writing (Wonderfully Wild)

Wonderfully Wild is a story based loosely on real-life events where a school's willow tree was damaged in a storm.  The old tree had to be cut down but the classes used parts of the tree to grow new trees as a project among the whole school.

Yet again, the incredible illustrations filled our minds with so much detail.  Each nature picture was filled with details for tiny bees, birds in nests, ants, ladybugs, and all the wonderful things you see if you take time to stop and look.

So, we did just that.  We took a walk.  We pointed out tiny details and used descriptive language to talk about them.  When we arrived home, they were filled with so much they could use to write a beautiful descriptive paragraph.

 

Picture Books and Writing (Violet and Victor write the Most Fabulous Fairy Tale)

Another fun book was Violet and Victor write the Most Fabulous Fairy Tale.  This story encapsulates the wonderful imagination of our children.  I have a little girl who reminds me of Violet filled with wonder and awe at the world around her.  She uses her imagination to play and create amazing stories and always tries to include her brother.  

 

Writing

For beginners: 

They can write their own fairy tale.  You can use a Once Upon a Time.... prompt to begin their writing.  My youngest chose to write her own fairy tale and use the Interrupting brother idea from the story.

For intermediate:

Create a fairy tale together.  You can do this between siblings or with an adult.  My son and I wrote one together.  It's simple you take turns writing one sentence at a time to create a fairy tale story together.  It's so fun to see what the other person is thinking and how your story makes unexpected twists and turns.  We laughed and had so much fun creating our story!

Picture Books and Writing (Isle of You)

Our next picture book also enticed me with the wonderful illustrations by Jaime Kim.  This book transported us to a beautiful landscape filled with imagination.  

Isle of You by David LaRochelle

We enjoyed the story of a child who was lonely but then used their imagination to travel to the Isle of You.  This Island was filled with all of the things the child loved.  I encouraged my kids to close their eyes and think about what would be on their Island.  Then they drew pictures to excite their imagination.  Finally they wrote all about their "Isle of you" and what would be there.

Picture Books and Writing

     This summer I wanted to do something fun with reading while also incorporating some writing.  As a former elementary school librarian I turned to picture books.  There are so many great picture books and they flow so well into art projects and writing projects.  They are also so versatile in age ranges.  I currently have a 10 and 7 year old.  They both enjoyed all of the books I found at our local library.

Our first picture book was more of a Christmas in July but I could not resist the beautiful pictures.  This is Wonder & Awe by Annie Herzig:

As the title suggests this book is filled with wonder and awe as each page fills you with so many emotions.  From happy, excited, to sad and lonely.

This picture book inspired us to go for a nature walk.  We wrote about all of the wonderful things we saw on our nature walk.  Then they painted a picture of their nature walk.  Simple yet filled with wonder and awe.