On Facebook, I saw a post asking for recommendations for good winter picture books. What a great question, I thought! Being a good book nerd, I scoured through the recommendations and found a few to request through my library’s app. Technology is really amazing sometimes.
One of the books I requested is Before Morning by Joyce Sidman and illustrated by Beth Krommes.
It’s interesting because I really like it, yet I also don’t know how to read it. So it’s a little complicated for me.
My problem is that not all the pages have words. Or as few as two words. My toddler finds this unacceptable.
“Read it!”
“There aren’t any words/aren’t any more words.”
“Read it, Ima.”
“There aren’t any words here. Look, birds! And snowflakes!”
I think the illustrations are beautiful and intricate and provide a lot to talk about, but I guess I’m too used to a more structured book. It’s almost worse on the earlier pages, which are illustrated fully like a normal page but have copyright info or the dedication, for example. I normally don’t read those parts, but we usually can skip those pages entirely. They don’t look like the rest of the book. But when I tell the toddler there’s nothing to read there but it’s part of the narrative, she is frustrated. There are obviously words there.
Bonus points for the mother being a pilot (and the subtle placement of copies of a book about Amelia Earhart around the house).
And more bonus points for making their house look as “real” and “homey” (meaning messy) as mine.
Beautiful and realistic, plus the beautiful outdoor winter scenes.
I definitely recommend Before Morning. But maybe you guys can tell me how to better read such a lightly structured book?
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