Chilly, windy midwest, Winter's Bone kind of day. Not the meth Winter's Bone, but grey and cold to the bone Winter's Bone. The perfect time to have another inside picnic. Gather:
snacks, quilt, new story prop, and hot chocolate!
I wanted to review for you today the new book that I fell in love with this week. Sora and the Cloud by Felicia Hoshino. I think I was draw to this because I have boys, but also the illustrations drew me in immediately. It is a lovely look at children's imaginations, and perspective- from above, where snails and ants are in the streets and squirrels fly airplanes! We loved the little details in the drawings and the gentleness of the cloud. Especially when we found the mama eating rice balls at the end, one of our favorite treats! We also enjoyed the bilingual nature of this book, though we did not know the Japanese characters it was lovely to see them on the page.
This led me to another thought of having a good world atlas handy when we are reading stories from other parts of the world. Barefoot Books put out a great atlas that is has their classic illustration style mixed throughout the continents and areas of the globe.
So while the boys were finishing up their after school homework I cut out a quick cloud for us to have as both a story prop to use, and reminder to the boys of where their imaginations can take them. After reading the story Silas was pretty convinced that you could indeed stand on clouds, he was not so sure earlier! But in case you don't have a scroll saw at your quick disposal, I can only image that you could create a pretty quick and cute cloud out of some cotton balls or wool! Hope you get read this one soon!
