Folks, I don’t know about where you live, but it’s COLD here in the not-so-sunny South. 🙂
What better time, then, to stay at home and read, right?
I feel sort of like I’m cheating (again) for this post because it’s not random. (FYI: There are no Official Read Aloud Thursday Rules, so nothing anywhere says Read Aloud Thursday posts must be random. But I like my posts to be. 🙂 ). However, I truly did pick these books up randomly; they just happen to share an author. 😉
Let’s Go Home: The Wonderful Things About a House by the inimitable Cynthia Rylant is just perfect for us homebodies. (Shhh! Don’t tell Steady Eddie, but I really am one.) It’s a gentle story–more of just an extended description, really. It’s about all the parts of a house and how, even though all houses are different, if they are truly homes, they share some commonalities. Wendy Anderson Halperin’s illustrations, coupled with Rylant’s gentle text, really set this story apart. The illustrations are so very detailed! This book really makes me sit back and think about home and how important it is, and this is definitely something I want my girls to absorb through our life together here at the House of Hope. All the better if our reading enforces it, right?
Cynthia Rylant‘s All in a Day couldn’t be any more different visually from Let’s Go Home, but 
the gentle tone is the same. The story is rather philosophical: it’s about all the potential inherent in any day. Actually, it’s almost like reading poetry. However, it’s the illustrations that make this one a stand-out. Nikki McClure’s tri-color papercuts are very striking and graphic. It would be difficult to read this story without calling attention to the illustrations–they’re that good. (You can see more of Nikki McClure’s work at her website.) These illustrations remind me a little of those in Kevin Henkes’ Caldecott Medal winning story, Kitten’s Full Moon. I would check out All in a Day for the illustrations alone.
I guess I could’ve actually just made this an author spotlight post, but I really didn’t set out to read aloud everything I could find by Cynthia Rylant. As it turns out, I’ve highlighted a few of her stories before–here and here. It looks like you can hardly go wrong with Cynthia Rylant!
Is your family enjoying a particular author or illustrator this week? Please share with us by leaving a link below to your Read Aloud Thursday blog post, or simply leave a comment.
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Have a terrific Read Aloud Thursday!
Filed under: Picture Books, Read Aloud Thursday |
Hope Is the Word 
These both look like ones I want to check out, Amy. Thanks for posting on them! You’re right; they’re perfect for this stage of winter.
I posted on just one book this week.
I love the idea of Let’s Go Home. One of my heart’s desires is to build a home that is so loved and enjoyed by our kiddoes that when they are old and gray, our home life and the feel inside of it is part of their “Oh, I remember when…” stories. So I love finding books that help foster a love of home. This one sounds very promising.
[…] more read aloud ideas go to Hope is the Word. Published […]
Let’s Go Home sounds like a lovely book. I’ve joined in for the first time in a few weeks.
I picked up All in a Day earlier in the year. It is a gorgeous book with a beautiful message. Rylant has certainly written a wide variety of books.
I was unaware of those two Rylant books, and they both look so intriguing. Thanks for spotlighting them, Amy.
Wendy Anderson Halperin wrote one of my favorite picture books called Once Upon a Company. Her illustrations are magnificent.