Saturday, October 8, 2011

Those Beautiful Books

First grade teachers have been guiding children to discover details in illustrations, photographs, and text. Each chooses different types of books to model for the students what they need to learn. One teacher checked out I Spy book, Where's Waldo? books, and Walter Wick's Can You See What I See? books. Another asked for books that led readers to see details and books for which the illustrations were essential for understanding the text. We provided some of each, and the first graders loved them all. After storytime yesterday, one girl asked me for "one of those beautiful books." I knew exactly what she meant because I think they are beautiful as well. Frank Serafini's Looking Closely series features the telephoto version of an image on the right-hand side of the page, and when the page is turned, the wider version of the image is revealed. Readers can look closely at the desert, a pond, the forest, the seashore, a garden, and the rain forest. It was Looking Closely in the Rain Forest she most wanted, and she left, smiling, with her beautiful book.

2 comments:

  1. i just adore the concept for this book (series of books).

    ReplyDelete
  2. When it comes to looking at details in illustrations that enhance the text, I love Marla Frazee's work. ROLLER COASTER and ALL THE WORLD are two books where there are multiple stories going on in the illustrations if you look closely. Both are books I love going back to over and over again.

    ReplyDelete