The wonderful Book

ABOUT THE BOOK
FAMILY ACTIVITIES

Text and illustrations: Leonid Gore /Published by: Scholastic

Distribution: October, 2018

A rabbit comes upon a book lying abandoned in the forest and turns it into a makeshift shelter. A growly bear spies it and wants to use it as a hat. Some mice decide it will make a perfect table and a fox turns it into a bed. When a child comes along, he recognizes the object with delight, sits down, and begins to read aloud. The animals gather round to listen, and the story turns out to be about a rabbit, a bear, some mice, etc. All agree it is a wonderful book. The story is simple, but imaginative and could lead to a discussion of things intended for one purpose that could be used for another.

Family Activities

The rabbit finds a book and, not knowing what it is, decides to make it his home. Thus, the book moves between different animals in the forest, each of them using the book in a different way. Until a curious child finds it, and sits down to browse through it and reads a story to the astonished ...

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Dear Parents,

A book is a magical world that takes our child on an amazing journey, visiting different places, and interacting with the characters of the story; the child is able to understand the characters’ feelings and thinks with them to solve their dilemmas. Like a flying carpet, a book can take our child to worlds that sharpen their imagination, develop their creativity, and enrich their language.

A book also brings us together with our child. It takes us away from our many concerns, and allows us to enjoy reading the text and looking at the drawings with our child, and chatting with them about the feelings and thoughts inspired by the book. A book can offer us a window, from which we may look at our child’s inner world and explore it.

Family Activities

The story begins with a book lying on the forest floor. We can encourage our child to think about why the book is there. Did someone forget it or lose it? who did?
Together, we can follow what each animal does with the book, and we can imagine what other creatures living in the forest would do with it, such as a butterfly, or a monkey, and others.
How do we use books in our home? We can chat about the reading habits of different family members. This is an opportunity to learn about our child’s favorite book-reading ritual. Do they like us to read to them before bed? Do they prefer to sit on our lap or next to us?
We can talk about different ways to take care of a book, such as keeping it in a private place, browsing it gently, etc. We can help our child design a collage by using pictures or drawings they made, illustrating the ways we take care of a book. We can encourage our child to think of a title for the collage, such as: “The Book is My Fiend.” Our child will definitely be proud to share their collage with their friends in kindergarten.
What is our child’s favorite book, and why do they prefer it? It might be fun if we, too, share books we love with our child.
Where do we get books from? We can talk with our child about the sources of the books in our home. This is an opportunity to visit a book fair located near our home, a public library, or a bookstore. We might also consider a project to exchange books with our friends, or donate books that we no longer need.
“Let’s Write a Book!" is the title of a creative workshop in which several family members can participate. We can design a simple book, and invite our child to choose a character, and to write a story about them. We can help them in thinking about the events and organizing them. We can also encourage them to draw each event on a page, and to design the cover. Our child will enjoy sharing their book and what they have added on the shelves of their own home library with their friends!
Enjoy your reading!