Visit Alyson Beecher on Wednesdays for Non-Fiction Picture Books at Kidlit Frenzy. From Alyson and others, you will discover terrific nonfiction picture books!
I feel lucky to have found The Story of E.B. White, a Boy, a Mouse and a Spider so quickly. I've read quite a few longer biographies of White in my life, but celebrate this one, too, for it will please younger readers very much. It also may become a bridge for teachers to use to introduce his story to their readers ready for his books, or to students ready to study nature's wonders.
The language used by Barbara Kerkert is brief but filled with the images White would have loved. She shares his time lingering in the barn as a young boy, "senses sharpened to the ripe scent of manure, the creak of harness leather, the perfect shape of eggs, the snort of tired horses, the sweet-dry scent of hay, and a spider's masterpiece." Each page holds poetic pictures that make me want to return to grandparents' farms and look again.
Lauren Castillo's softly colored illustrations show a thought-filled boy, enjoying being with animals, loving the outdoors, wondering who he might be when he grew up. And then, growing up and discovering that who he was as a boy is who he continued to be. There is added information in an author's note at the back, with a picture of an older White and a bibliography.
Among numerous favorite pages, I love that this double-page spread below
became this:
My older granddaughter recently read Charlotte's Web. I am looking forward to sharing this wonderful book with her about the writer who gave her a book to love.