The Moon is Going to Addy's House

The colors and textures of Ida Pearle’s The Moon is Going to Addy’s House will draw your readers into Addy’s journey.  While the words weave a first person narrative, every illustration is a shift in perspective as Addy sees the moon following her home. The rich hues of Pearle’s collage tell the story of a girl on a ride home from her playdate. She watches out the window of the car as the moon peeks out from high and low around the city.  Addy looks up through the sweeping skyscrapers, peeks from behind mountains, and reaches out to touch the whimsical moon.  Young writers will want to try on the passage of time and distance that occur across the page turns of this book.  The double-page spreads and multi-paneled pages introduce children to a variety of formats for their own illustrations.  This small moment in Addy’s life draws to a close at she arrives home and the moon is waiting for her.  The colors darken and the shadows play as Addy dances around the moon and eventually snuggles into bed under the fuschia glow of the night sky.

Mentor Text Ideas- Perspective; Collage Illustration; Memoir

Ideas Are All Around

Teachers of young writers can all relate to hearing, “I don’t know what to write.” Philip Stead’s new book, Ideas Are All Around, gives readers a glimpse into finding the extraordinary details in an ordinary day. Without ideas, the writer becomes the narrator. The narrator’s voice illuminates the happenings while on a walk with Wednesday, a cute, scruffy dog. The illustrations are created with Polaroid photographs, collage, and monoprint techniques. They offer a peek into the world around them with a special emphasis on the animals who share this rural space with Wednesday and his walker. Along the way, they meet up with Barbara, a friendly neighbor who inspired the cover art of the blue horse. Seeing some spilled blue paint on her porch, Barbara says, “How wonderful… A blue horse!” This very horse moves across the pages leading Wednesday back to Barbara after many adventures on his walk. Barbara reminds us all that ideas are all around us. This book is sure to inspire writers of all ages to look and listen in closely to their world as a way to find inspiration and ideas.

Mentor Text Ideas- Getting Ideas; Memoir; Photography Illustrations