Welcome to 2025 PICTURE BOOK CLUB – WEEK EIGHT
How to participate in Picture Book Club …
-
Get the suggested books from your library or bookstore (local or online). See PICTURE BOOK CLUB BOOK LIST for the complete list of books for each week.
-
Before reading each of the weekly books to your child, READ FIRST “What Adults Can Learn from This Story.”
-
Read one or both books to your child as many times through the week as your child wants to hear them and you have time to read.
-
Consider doing whatever activities you think are appropriate for the age and maturity of your child from “Make This Story Come Alive for Your Child.”
WE WELCOME FEEDBACK ABOUT YOUR PARTICIPATION. YOU CAN LEAVE A COMMENT BY USING THE “WHAT DO YOU THINK?” BUTTON AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST.
A BALL FOR DAISY by Chris Raschka
(a story told in pictures)
Daisy the dog has a very special red ball. He plays with it, sleeps near it, and even snuggles with it. When his owner took him and his ball to the park one day, Daisy played ball with another friendly dog. Oops! Daisy’s playmate popped the ball. Daisy was sad –so, so sad. After days of living with a very lonely dog, his owner took him back to the park. Daisy met up again with the same friendly dog that had ruined his ball. This time the playmate had his own blue ball. Both dogs played happily. When it was time to go home, Daisy’s friend handed her the ball to take home – it was the friend’s way to make up for having popped Daisy’s ball. Daisy went home happy – so, so happy.
What Adults Can Learn from This Story
-
When a book tells its story with pictures rather than words, it is a chance to make the story be whatever adults think children would enjoy and learn from. It can be about a situation that your child is dealing with. It can be told using words that children understand or that have special meaning for them.
-
A story told in pictures can stay alive by changing it every so often. This may happily surprise some children while making others unhappy because the version they were used to was like their snuggly dependable blanket. They wanted it to stay the same forever. Children’s reactions to changing the story will help adults understand more about how they will react to change in all aspects of their lives – new people, places, experiences.
-
The loss of an object can cause grief – real grief – the same emotion that occurs with the loss of a person. When children feel this, they need comfort. Children need to know that others understand what they are feeling and that it is OK to feel those feelings. Their grief shouldn’t be disregarded as not serious or important. Don’t try to tease, humor, coax, or use sarcasm to stop children from feeling sad. “C’mon, man-up.” Don’t bribe them with replacements or try to get them interested in something else. “Let’s go to the pet store; there’s a puppy there just waiting for you.”
-
When children grieve, their feelings might be up and down like a rollercoaster. They may only be able to tolerate their grief for brief times, so they will likely refocus and act as though they are over it. They are not likely to really be over it. They are just taking a break from the intensity. Expect them to fall back into the grief over and over again. Perhaps for only brief times again and perhaps when least expected and adults are least prepared to deal with it.
-
Discipline should not cause grief. If children have things or privileges taken away because of misbehavior, they no doubt will be disappointed, angry, frustrated, regretful, or unhappy, but these emotions are different than true grief. There are some things that are so extremely important to children that they should not be used as a tool for disciplining. Never purposely take away children’s most important possessions. Sometimes the loss of the use of a toy can make sense as a consequence for misbehavior, but there should be a short list of things that are just too important to be used that way – things that children’s self-worth or sense of security is connected to. It can be difficult to figure out what the few off-limits things should be, but it is worth thinking about. It helps protect children’s trust in adults. It helps them trust that adults are not trying to hurt them, adults understand them, and adults’ love for them is more important than anything else.
-
Adults can notice what children do to make themselves feel better when they are sad or disappointed. Do they hug their blankets, cry for a while, or get busy with something? Adults can remember this the next time they see children feeling sad or disappointed, and it can help them avoid jumping in and trying to protect children from every sadness. Instead, they can celebrate that children are learning the important skill of comforting themselves and that they understand that sadness and disappointment will fade eventually. Allowing children to figure out they can live through sadness, solve problems, and find ways to make themselves feel better when they are sad or disappointed is a life lesson.
-
Protecting against all sadness can be overcaring. (See “Saying ‘No’” in Teaching Kids to Wait, Part 1) for more about overcaring. Children need to learn how to deal with sadness and disappointment. It becomes part of developing something called “grit.” Grit is what helps children know they are capable of getting their needs met and being successful at what they do – no matter how tough things get.
Make this Story Come Alive for Your Child
-
Go to the park or some other place where children play. Talk with your child about how other children in the park might be feeling. If any of them are sad, talk with your child about how to make them feel better. For example, if a child falls down, your child could offer a bandage. If a child is sad that he has no playmate, your child could offer to play. If a child is upset that he sees others having snacks but he has none, your child could offer to share.
-
Go to the library and ask the librarian where to look for books without words. You can ask to see some by Barbara Lehman or David Wiesner as a start. When you tell your child the story represented by the pictures in the books you selected, use words, character names, and details that are familiar to your child. On some pages you can ask your child to tell what is happening and help tell the story. Have your child tell the story every so often. Notice whether she adds characters and what kind they are – for example, a cat instead of a dog or a female owner in addition to the male owner? Does she add anger into the story? Does she have the owner do more to comfort the sad dog? The story your child tells will give you clues about how she is thinking and feeling about things.
-
If your child has a favorite version of a story without words, ask him what about the story he likes so much – a way to understand the type of person he is becoming. Does he like adventure, happy endings, or being able to know the ending ahead of time?
-
Make a very short list of a couple of things that are so near and dear to your child that they should not be taken away as a consequence for misbehavior. For example, a special toy because of who gave it to her, the blanket she sleeps with every night, something gotten by overcoming serious obstacles. Avoid these few things as consequences when you are establishing house rules. Find other consequences that make sense for the behavior that needs correcting.
-
Give your child five messages that say he is loved and cared about. Make some be words. Make some be just actions. Examples of these types of messages (Feel free to use these or to make up your own):
-
“I love you oodles and oodles.”
-
Hug him (not in public, if he is an older child).
-
Stroke his arm or shoulder while watching TV.
-
“Let’s have some you-and-me time.”
-
“How can I be so lucky as to have you for a son?”
-
IF YOU TAKE A MOUSE TO SCHOOL by Laura Numeroff
(about being responsible)
A little boy decides to take his mouse to school. There is lots to do to get a mouse ready for school. Once they get to school, the mouse wants to be included in everything that goes on. That takes a lot of effort – all day long – up to the very last minute. When the end-of-school bell rings, the little boy runs outside to wait for the bus with his friend the mouse right along with him. Just as the bus is arriving the mouse asks for the little boy’s lunchbox and they both discover … they must sprint right back into the school building. Taking care of his friend is a big responsibility.
What Adults Can Learn from This Story
-
Children learn from “doing.” If the little boy had not been allowed to take his mouse to school he would have missed out on practicing how to be a caring person.
-
Caring for another person (or a mouse) requires a person to understand what that person needs and make it a priority to help the person get that need met.
-
It is not always convenient or easy to take care of another person. Sometimes the caregiver just wants some time off, a break from the responsibility.
-
Being responsible helps children realize that they are learning how to become independent and eventually to be able to care for themselves.
-
If children fail to ack responsibly, it is important that they have opportunities to try again and to make up for any harm created by their irresponsibility. Letting children off the hook is a lesson lost and a blow to their opinion of themselves. It does more harm than good.
Make this Story Come Alive for Your Child
-
Ask your child if he would like to take a mouse to school. Is there something or someone he would rather take to school?
-
Ask your child what part of school she expects to like the best this year (the bus, reading books, learning about numbers, science experiments, recess). Ask why she thinks she will like those parts?
-
Talk to your child about what you liked at school at his age and why.
-
Ask your child why she thinks it was important to take the mouse back to school to get the lunchbox.
-
Ask your child if there is something so special to him that he would be upset to have to leave it behind at school? Ask him how he thought the mouse felt when the little boy rushed back into the school to get the lunchbox?
Picture Book Parenting 
You must be logged in to post a comment.