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Would someone please tell me how it got to be Friday?

Seriously!  Where did this week go?  I am still somewhere back around midday Monday...

But since the rest of the world seems to agree that it's Friday, let's have a Perfect Picture Book, shall we?

Title: Mathilda And The Orange Balloon
Written By: Randall de Seve
Illustrated By: Jen Corace
Balzer & Bray, Feb. 2010, Fiction

Suitable For Ages: 3-7

Themes/Topics: imagination, be yourself/individuality

Opening: "Mathilda's world was small.  Here's what was in it: Green grass.  Green barn.  Gray skies.  Gray stones.  Gray sheep."

Brief Synopsis: Mathilda lives in a small, familiar world, which is all very nice, until one day she spies an orange balloon.  She is captivated, and she believes that she can be an orange balloon too!

Links To Resources: Preschool lesson plan for the color orange; learning activities for the color orange; preschool lesson plan for sheep; pair this book with other sheep books like Sheep In A Jeep by Nancy Shaw and discuss how the sheep in the books are alike and different; pair this book with other imagination books like Harold And The Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson and discuss how Mathilda uses her imagination compared to how Harold uses his.

Why I Like This Book: This book is just darling!  Mathilda is so delightful, so cheerful, so optimistic and imaginative and determined.  "What is a balloon?" she asks, and when the others answer that it is round and it flies, Mathilda (who is a gray sheep) shows them that she too is round and can fly.  "What is orange?" she asks, and when the others answer that it is fierce like a tiger, warm like wool, and happy, she shows them that she is all those things too.  The art and the text are simple and sweet, and the message that you can be anything you want if you believe in yourself is one that is near and dear to my heart (since it is the same message that Punxsutawney Phyllis has :))  And I just have to share my favorite line from the story when Mathilda first catches sight of the orange balloon: "Mathilda had never seen anything so magnificent." :)

For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.

PPBF bloggers, please be sure to leave your post-specific links in the list below so we can all come visit you and enjoy your selections for this week!

Have a great weekend, everyone!  I guess we will all be working on writing our fairy tales... wink wink nudge nudge... right??? :) (For March Madness Writing Contest guidelines go HERE.)

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Why is a raven like a writing desk?*   More on topic, how is a bad query sent to an editor like a personal ad?  Last April The Rejectionist sought to answer this very question in Love is Like a Bottle of Query and I couldn’t help but figure that it would make a superb Valentine’s Day link for you all.

That seems insufficient fodder for today’s post, though.  So just for the heckuvit, here is a list of my favorite romantic picture books.  Howsoever you wish to interpret them.

The Duchess of Whimsy by Randall de Seve, illustrated by Peter de Seve – Not only was it written by a husband and wife team (an inherently romantic proposition) but it also features one of my favorite love stories.  You have a Duchess who is only interested in whimsical things and the practical fellow who loves her.  I’m a fan.  Plus it’s a real treat to the old eyeballs.

The Marzipan Pig by Russell Hoban – The saddest Valentine’s Day book on this list and long out of print.  Nevertheless I love that book, and I love the little film that was made of it long long ago.  You can catch a section of it here if you like:

The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear, illustrated by Stephane Jorisch – I understand that there are as many different picture book versions of this book as there are drops of water in the sea.  Everyone from Hilary Knight to James Marshall has adapted this poem at some point (probably because it’s the rare standalone poem that converts to the picture book format so easily).  My personal favorite amongst these versions, however, is Jorisch’s.  This isn’t just a story about two different species getting together.  No, in Jorisch’s world it’s two different lifestyles.  The owl is all buttoned up business suit and the cat this Greenwich Village, thick soled boot-wearing artist.  Yet impossibly they get together and wed.  How awesome is that?!

Henry in Love by Peter McCarty – A love story appropriate for the schoolyard set.  More of a crush really.  In this sweet tale a little cat has a crush on a rabbit in his class.  They reach a mutual understanding all thanks to a bright blue muffin.  Aside from making me hungry for muffins (particularly those of irregular colors) McCarty employs a really gorgeous pen to the illustrations in this book.  Little wonder it appeared on the 5 Comments on Happy Valentine’s Day!!, last added: 2/15/2011