Going Beyond the Book!

Building our own "Magic School Bus"
was one recent fun project around here!

Happy Monday or, as I like to call it around here, Keep Reading Fun Day! I love reading to kids and I love reading with kids. But today I want to talk about how wonderful it can be in those special times when our shared reading experiences become so powerful that we actually go beyond the book.

A simple example of this could be seeing a movie or a play of the book we just watched. This is always fun! We loved seeing the movie of CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (Gene Wilder Version) and I am looking forward to taking my son to JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH at Seattle Children's Theater later on this year.

But today I wanted to share some fun examples that go even further. Ways in which we have lived the books we love:

Welcome to The Picture Book Diner!

Today I am excited to welcome everyone to the newest feature on my blog: The Picture Book Diner. This feature was inspired by Jeffrey Duckworth's awesome illustration at the top of my blog. Originally, on my website, this image was a wonderful truck stop (also drawn by Jeff) for the launch of my picture book, Where Do Diggers Sleep at Night?.

When I launched this blog, I wanted to use the same wonderful image, but I asked Jeff to help me change it up a bit. Now it was transitioning from a truck stop into "Brianna's Book Stop" and all the building titles changed accordingly. The mini-mart became a library (Jeff even changed the original shelves of food behind the frosted glass to shelves of books!) and "Digger's Diner" became the Picture Book Diner.