craft Archives - Page 33 of 41

A Complicated Case
by Ulf Nilsson (Author) and Gitte Spee (Illustrator)

There is something going on among the forest animals that’s making everyone unhappy. Detective Gordon and police assistant Buffy have a new case to investigate!

#kidlit Writing Lesson: the small details

In chapter four, Buffy goes out to look for suspects. She sees the rabbit who ran away earlier:

“Hello!” she said.

“Help!” the rabbit jumped and shrieked. “No, I don’t want to talk to the police. That will only make it worse.”

Buffy sat down beside him. She patted him a little on his soft, fluffy coat which smelled of wool, carrots, and torn grass.

Notice the action and reaction:

“Hello!” she said.

“Help!” the rabbit jumped and shrieked.

The rabbit’s dialogue reveals more about the case that the little mouse is investigating:

“No, I don’t want to talk to the police. That will only make it worse.”

Buffy’s reaction to the rabbit’s information is unexpected. It is also filled with sensory details:

Buffy sat down beside him. She patted him a little on his soft, fluffy coat which smelled of wool, carrots, and torn grass.

Later in this mystery story, these sensory details are used as clues.

When Spring Comes
by Kevin Henkes (Author) and Laura Dronzek (Illustrator)

Booktalk: The BIG Picture

The award-winning, bestselling husband-and-wife team of Kevin Henkes and Laura Dronzek collaborate for the first time since their acclaimed picture book Birds (2009).

Before spring comes, the trees are dark sticks, the grass is brown, and the ground is covered in snow. But if you wait, leaves unfurl and flowers blossom, the grass turns green, and the mounds of snow shrink and shrink. Spring brings baby birds, sprouting seeds, rain and mud, and puddles. You can feel it and smell it and hear it—and you can read it!

#kidlit Writing Lesson: the small details

Some pages of this picture book for ages 2-4 have a simple before and after pattern. It’s a compare and contrast story arc.

On one left page it says:

Before Spring comes, the garden is just dirt, and empty.

The facing page on the right says:

But if you wait, Spring will push green shoots through the dirt to fill up the garden.

The “before” page states a fact. The “after” addresses the reader with the words:

But if you wait

. . . before stating a contrasting spring fact.

Everything is personal to preschoolers, even the seasons!

BONUS! Read an interview with Laura Dronzek

Snippet: “Laura Dronzek’s color-drenched illustrations for When Spring Comes (Greenwillow, 2-4 years) bring husband Kevin Henkes’s poetic text into full bloom.”