Book Crush

I'm a children's book nut. I love a good children's book and I often as an art teacher I weave in literature whenever possible. My current book obsession is The Dark by Lemony Snicket illustrations by Jon Klassen. I loved Klassen's This is Not My Hat and am somewhat new to Snicket. Anyway here are some pictures from the book.

The gorgeous cover. All illustrations were done in gauche. 

I am especially fond of the monochromatic color palette in the above image with the contrast of the bold dark. 

The all-consuming dark. 

Gorgeous image of a sunset. You can feel the coldness of the room while simultaneously feeling the warmth of the colors. 

The limited color palette with oodles of organized geometrics. 

My local bookstore Child's Play in Northwest D.C. had copies of this book signed by the author. I was able to snag one for myself and one for Catie. Yeah I'm a good friend.

I hope you check this book out and I hope even more that you love it as much as me.

-Grace

I’d Really Like to Eat a Child

I’d say that I spend a significant portion of my day reading books to my small people and it can get a little repetitive. The requests don’t vary too much from day to day and attempts to change things up are not always received well. (I do understand that 

repetition is really important for little growing minds, but STILL.)

So, new children’s literature that is interesting for my children and enjoyable for me falls squarely into the 

“Blessing from Heaven” category.

Here are my two current hilarious favorites:

“I’d Really Like to Eat a Child” is by the French author Sylviane Donnio about a little crocodile named Achilles who decides that he’s sick of bananas and wants to eat a child. The ending is fantastic and truly French in its lack of a pat resolution.

"This is Not My Hat” by Jon Klassen was a given to us by a friend and we read it almost every day. The protagonist is a small fish that has stolen a hat and he tells of his plans to keep it. The illustrations that accompany the narration are perfect and the ambiguous ending is a moral lesson in and of itself.

I seriously recommend these books. They have both become staples of our reading day even though we don’t own “I’d Really Like to Eat a Child” (we constantly have it on loan from the library). Check them out and add a little dark humor to your day.

Happy Weekend, Friends!

-Alissa

PS For the record, I’d really like to have a son named Achilles.