picture this: how pictures work

Picture This: How Pictures Work.  A little week-end reading.  A recommendation from Carter Higgins from last year, and I’m just getting to it now.  Luckily, a revised and expanded 25th anniversary edition was just published by Chronicle Books.  Loving the visual economy of the cover and I agree with Brian Selznick, it has a definite Strunk and White vibe.  The spare, minimal cover declares, “Omit needless words.”

little lit book series has a new home + giveaway

One of the marks of a good book is its power to instill a sense of wonder in its readers.  Wonder is the theme we’re exploring in this month’s #littlelitbookseries.  If you’re new to #littlelitbookseries, we are a group of teachers, librarians, artists and writers who share books on a certain theme every month.  We share beloved classics and fresh new works whose words and images have engaged and inspired us, and we hope they do the same for you.

Also, this month marks the one-year anniversary of #littlelitbookseries!  In celebration, we're hosting an INTERNATIONAL giveaway with three lucky winners on Instagram.  Head over to our new account on Instagram, @littlelitbookseries.

little lit book series: wonder edition

What would childhood be without wonder?  We’re sharing books that inspire wonder in this month’s #littlelitbookseries.

In When You Were Small, by Sara O’Leary and Julie Morstad, Henry's father tells nightly bedtime stories to his son about when he was small.  Literally small enough to wear a thimble for a hat and have his hair brushed with a toothbrush.  In When I Was Small, Henry wonders what his mother was like when she was younger.  “What was it like when you were small?”  She tells him about how when she was small, she slept in a mitten and played jump rope with a piece of yarn.

Poignant, otherworldly and sweet, this pair of books will enthrall sleepy-eyed readers at bedtime as they listen and imagine what you were like when you were little like them.  And you can tell them all sorts of things you did as a kid, your perspective of the world when you were their age and the kinds of things you wondered about, were curious about, dreamt about and imagined.  Partaking of wonder together makes some of the best memories.  Let’s do it more.

For more wondrous picks, head over to #littlelitbookseries on Instagram.