When I was a child, my father brought home a box of Legos. The set held a handful of teeny-tiny plastic bricks, medium bricks, and others that were long, fat, and flat. The instruction booklet showed pictures for possible things the set could build. My sister made a tall, thin house with a steep roof. I built a short house with a flat roof. My Dad built a little plane. After we played with the toys we made, we snapped apart the bricks and saw what else we could build, using only our imaginations to guide us.
Flash forward: I’m married and have a daughter who has received an amazing Lego ship set for her seventh birthday. Her smile is bigger than a crescent moon. She lays out the instructions and stacks the Lego pieces into organized piles. For the next two hours, she builds that ship and sets it adrift in the middle of our coffee table. With a stern face, she instructs her dad and me NOT to touch it, NOT to play with it, and NOT to use the coffee table as she has repurposed it into a museum-grade, display table for her masterpiece.
YEARS have passed. The ship eventually sailed down to the basement where it is resting in drydock with other forgotten toys because…
there was nothing else the instructions said the Lego set could build but a ship.
Taking what we are given and seeing what other possibilities exist is the theme for today’s Perfect Picture Book Friday review.
Title – Going Places – view on Amazon HERE.
Written by – Peter and Paul Reynolds
Illustrated by – Peter Reynolds
Published by – Scholastic Inc. – 2014
Suitable for ages – 3-7
Topics/Theme – Thinking outside the box (literally).
Opening – Rafael had been waiting all year long for the Going Places contest, a chance to build a go-cart, race it…and win.
When their teacher announced, “Who would like the first kit?” Rafael’s hand shot up.
Why do I like this book? Going Places shows us that some people will see the picture on a kit and follow the instructions EXACTLY, while other kids will say, “That’s nice, but what else can I build?” Peter and Paul Reynolds have created a brilliant story that inspires and encourages everyone, no matter their age, to look waaay outside the box and fly!
Learn more about Peter and Paul Reynolds HERE.
Until next Friday!
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