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Category: similarities

  • Learning to Love Books

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    Judy Butler
    in ,

    The cover art for Madeline Finn and the Library Dog by Lisa Papp (2016) previews what’s inside the book. This is a gentle story about a child who struggles with reading. Madeline wants to read, but she doesn’t like to read because it’s difficult. She wants to earn stars for reading like her peers do.…

  • Let’s Support Human Creativity

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    Judy Butler
    in ,

    Rosa Bonheur wants to be an artist. Tomie dePaola wants to be an artist. Allen Say wants to be an artist. Each one embraces their aloneness and pursues a path that is different from their peers.  In The Art Lesson, Tommy wants to be an artist when he grows up, so he “drew and drew…

  • Rabbits Learn to Share

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    Judy Butler
    in ,

    If You Plant a Seed by Kadin Nelson (2015) is a beautiful book illustrated with lovely paintings. The cover is a close-up of a rabbit and a mouse that radiates light and color. It appears they’ve  collaborated to plant something. They gaze at a young seedling that’s emerging from rich brown soil. We can infer…

  • Black and White Drawings

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    Judy Butler
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    Picture books with black and white drawings are rare at library book sales. I’m always glad to discover one. Andrew Henry’s Meadow by Doris Burn (1965, 2005, 2012) tells of Andrew Henry Thatcher’s passion for building things. Andrew loved to piece together elaborate constructions. His mother could not tolerate the helicopter Andrew designed to hang…

  • Wessman and Wiesner: Serious Play with Paint

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    Judy Butler
    in ,

    I had the pleasure of meeting Robin Wessman at a local art show. The Provincetown Independent featured Wessman’s paintings in “Robin Wessman’s Destabilizing Reality” (March 20, 2025). In this article we see Wessman’s color and light leap off the page. Reporter Abraham Storer describes these still life images as “rendered realistically, with fastidious care given to…

  • Exquisite Collage x 2

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    Judy Butler
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    Once again, I came across two books with similar content. They are both beautiful. Dazzling pictures in colorful collage illustrate both.  Steve Jenkins and Robin Page earned a Caldecott Honor for What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? (2003). They illustrate portions of animals’ bodies and ask a question. For example, “What do…

  • Deja Vu All Over Again

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    Judy Butler
    in ,

    The Good~Bye Book by Judith Viorst and illustrated by Kay Chorao (1988) gave me a sense of déjà vu. It reminded me of Don’t Forget to Come Back by Robie H. Harris and illustrated by Harry Bliss (2004). And for the third time, I find two books that are similar, but not the same. Both…

  • Why the limited palette?

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    Judy Butler
    in ,

    The Brilliant Deep: Rebuilding the World’s Coral Reefs by Kate Messner (2018) is the story of Ken Nedimyer’s heroic attempts to restore dying coral reefs. There’s more information, references, and vocabulary at the back of the book. A photo of Nedimyer is on the last page. I won’t be creating a Picture Book Talk lesson…

  • Retold . . . and Revised?

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    Judy Butler
    in ,

    The Mitten by Jan Brett (1989) is one of her gorgeously illustrated stories that I read many years ago. What I didn’t remember was a note that precedes the story. It’s a full page explanation of how The Mitten is a Ukranian folktale that her friends brought to her attention. She looked for all the…

  • Only similar, not the same

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    Judy Butler
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    Flostsam (2006) started me on a quest to find books by David Wiesner. His imagination and craft are expontentially different from any other author/illustrator. Flotsam is a large book with a bold red cover: a fish’s head with a huge camera lens-like eye smack in the center of the picture. The main character in this…