From the March 14, 2008 Pigeon Post essay of the same name.
This book list is divided into two sections:
(1) Picture Books
(2) Books for Independent Readers
The list begins below with Picture Books, but you can use the following link to skip directly to books for Independent Readers.
Go to books for Independent Readers
Picture Books
Independent Reader
We often tell our children that there is no free lunch, someone always pays. This is completely true in the material world, the logical world. But one's life is more than the sum of materials, it is also how you view things, feel things, believe things. And here the whole is often not the sum of the parts. Sometimes there is something to be had for nothing - it is merely an act of conjuring up a different way of viewing things to arrive at a greater richness. There are many marvelous children's stories that help children understand that part of the continuing magic of life is our ability to see how sometimes, by changing your focus, you can suddenly have something from nothing. The best examples of this are of the optical illusion variety - for example, the old classic of the image which, depending on how you shift your focus, appears to be either a beautiful young woman turned partly away from you or an old woman facing towards you. There is nothing more to the image than when you started, only how you view it.What are your favorite something from nothing stories?
This book list is divided into two sections:
(1) Picture Books
(2) Books for Independent Readers
The list begins below with Picture Books, but you can use the following link to skip directly to books for Independent Readers.
Go to books for Independent Readers
Picture Books
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Stone Soup by Marcia Brown Highly Recommended |
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Reading With Dad by Richard Jorgensen and illustrated by Warren Hanson Highly Recommended |
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Puss-in-Boots by Charles Perrault and illustrated by Fred Marcellino Highly Recommended |
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Silver Packages by Cynthia Rylant and illustrated by Chris K. Soentpiet Highly Recommended |
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The Talking Eggs by Robert D. San Souci and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney Recommended |
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The Gardener by Sarah Stewart and illustrated by David Small Highly Recommended |
Independent Reader
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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum Highly Recommended |
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Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe Highly Recommended |
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Mama's Bank Account by Kathryn Forbes Highly Recommended |
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The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis and illustrated by Pauline Baynes Highly Recommended |
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Stop the Train! by Geraldine McCaughrean Recommended |
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Something Out Of Nothing by Carla Killough McClafferty Suggested |
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The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne and illustrated by N.C. Wyeth Highly Recommended |
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Mary on Horseback by Rosemary Wells and illustrated by Peter McCarty Recommended |
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Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder and illustrated by Garth Williams Highly Recommended |
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The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss and illustrated by Lynd Kendall Ward Recommended |
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