The Red Book by Barbara Lehman

Posted byKatrina Ávila MunichielloPosted inMiddle Grade, Wordless, Young Reader

It’s been a house full of sick kids this week. It’s come with the usual stress and worry and extra work, but it also comes with many, many opportunities to read out loud to children who are too tired to run around. I took the chance to go through the bookshelf and pull out some titles we haven’t looked at in awhile.

RedBook    Today for my 2-year-old’s pre-nap book I picked “The Red Book” by Barbara Lehman. I love the book-within-a-book creativity of these wordless pages.

The tale begins with a young girl discovering a red book stuck in the snow as she travels down city streets on her way to school. When she flips through the pages she discovers images of a boy on a far-off island. Lehman, an illustrator, then introduces a twist. The boy, walking down a sunny beach, discovers a red book of his own. His book contains pictures of the girl in her far-off city apartment. It is a set-up that would make the creators of “Lost” proud. The connections and interconnections continue in a fascinating progression. Without a single word, the story is engaging and can inspire wonderful conversation and imaginative play.

While this book is recommended for children ages 4-8, this Caldecott Honor Book has been enjoyed by both the children and the adults in this house.

Published by Katrina Ávila Munichiello

KAM is a freelance writer, editor, and lifelong lover of books. She was the kind of kid who woke up before sunrise to read before school and her passion for books has never waned. After nearly a decade of work in public health and the non-profit sector, she became a stay-at home mom. The twelve years since have allowed her discover a new life’s ambition — writing. She published her first book “A Tea Reader: Living Life One Cup at a Time,” a collection of essays written by tea lovers around the world, in 2011, and has had articles and essays featured in outlets including Yankee Magazine and Boston Globe Sunday Magazine. She served as Senior Editor of Tea Magazine. She currently writes picture books and middle grade books and is loving every minute of making them better. She is a member of NESCBWI, Vice President of Friends of the J.V. Fletcher Library and advisor of an elementary school Newspaper Club.

3 thoughts on “The Red Book by Barbara Lehman”

  1. Pingback: Picture Book Weekend: 365 Penguins | KAM Reads
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  3. Pingback: Picture Book Weekends: Sit-In | KAM Reads

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