Sunday, January 11, 2009

Sunday Salon, The World That Loved Books

The Sunday Salon.com

Wow what a week this has been returning to work. One snow day, a late opening and then yesterday's snowfall that went into the overnight. What a nice time to hunker down and read a few good books. In between shoveling that is. Yuck!

So watching the snow and ice coating the trees and in between lesson planning, I read High Spirits by Dianne Salerni. This is a romantic, (yes I cried), historical fiction book about the Spiritualist movement in the mid 19th century. If you want to read about the the clever Fox sisters from history, stay tuned for a ghostly rapping review later this week. Next, I read Red Clay, Blood River is a historical fiction novel by William Everett and his novel about the Trail of Tears and the Great Trek in Africa.
The review for this will be published later. I received several surprises in the mail this week, giving me a lot of catching up to do. I hope there will be a few more snow days this month to help me out. LOL

Anyway, I have an incredible picture book to share with you called, The World That Loved Books, by Steve Parlato. I am going to treasure this masterpiece and I'm telling you the little picture graphic I have hear is just not going to do his art justice. Please take a look at this book the next time you are in a bookstore! This is a copy of one of the posters available on his website and is the artwork for his cover.



Review:


The World that Loved Books


Stephen Parlato
Simply Read Books
978-1-894965-98-9


Welcome to my world....
At least that's what I thought when I read the beginning of The World That Loved Books, by Stephen Parlato.

From the opening page:

"There once was a world where everyone loved books, even the animals. Everyone loved to read so much that when they read their books they became what they read."

Bravo! This book was so spectacular I read it slowly savoring every memorable morsel of text and the intricate illustrations that honestly should be framed mounted and hung in an art gallery. This author and illustrator understands the importance of providing a simple text with everyday vocabulary. Each couplet with the complementary detailed drawing stand alone, but together they will fascinate students, engage their thinking and stimulate questions and ideas. The book will be enjoyed by all students, whether the student is an auditory or verbal learner, ELL, special needs, gifted and talented or in the mainstream classroom. Mr. Parlato's text and collages are an oxymoron of simple elaboration.

Once you read this book you will love reading it to your class. You will garner ways to use it in lessons and realize it is an essential part of your classroom library. Anyone who loves books or struggles to get others to read will cherish The World that Loved Books by Stephen Parlato, an exceptionally creative master.

Thank you Stephen for sending me this autographed review copy and poster. I am so lucky!

9 comments:

Yvonne said...

The World that Loved Books sounds wonderful! Great review.

We had snow and ice overnight - we ended up with alot of ice, not much snow accumulation. Being inside reading is my favorite pasttime :)

Have a great week!

wisteria said...

Thanks for stopping by. I agree..nothing like being inside during a snowstorm reading. Careful on the ice. :)

Literary Feline said...

The one downfall to living where I do: no snow days. :-) I imagine I'd have to go in anyway though considering the kind of job I have. Oh well, one can always dream . . .

High Spirits sounds like an intriguing book. I look forward to reading your review! The World that Loved Books sounds like a lot of fun! I'll have to see if I can get a copy for my mother for her class.

I hope you have a great week!

wisteria said...

Thanks for stopping. Boo hoo...no snow days. Sorry about that. I'll have the review on High Spirits this week. Not many pit stops needed for this one...race to finish. :)

Iliana said...

That book sounds wonderful... I'm curious what section of the bookstore will have this. Sounds like it'd find a home next to the Nick Bantock books, which I've sometimes seen in the art section. I'll have to look for it next time I'm in the bookstore - would love to see the illustrations.

wisteria said...

Iliana, I read this to a 1st grade class today and a 2nd grade class. They were amazed. They had so much discussion about the pictures and what kind of book they would want to be. It was so fun to see their surprise as I showed them the picture after reading the text.
I'm not sure where this would be in the bookstore, but he has written and illustrated others. One store I checked listed it as in children's picture books.

Marie Cloutier said...

wow, that looks great. i'm going to have to take a look at it for my library! thanks!!

The Bookworm said...

The World That Loved Books does sound very good.
Great review Wisteria :)
We had snow here too, and now the temps are freezing. Its always fun to stay indoors with a good book while it snows out.
Enjoy your week :)
http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/

Ladytink_534 said...

It sounds like a wonderful story!