This Friday’s feature is author Peter Reynolds. I was introduced to his work via Scholastic Book Clubs. Teaching is just my excuse to collect children’s books. Scholastic makes that so easy. As I have mentioned before, I have a goal to get my hands on as many books that I can that have black and brown main characters. So when I saw Reynold’s The Word Collector featuring a black boy as the star of the show, I was smitten.
The Book
Jerome is a logophile. When words he heard, saw, or read caught his attention, he would write them down. Jerome filled scrapbooks with his collections, and organized them into categories (dreamy, science, sad, action, poetic). One day, while carrying his books, he slipped and his collection scrabbled. While attempting to resort, he began to make new two-word combinations. He was inspired to use those combinations to create poems and songs. He began to express the importance of simple words such as thank you and you matter. Jerome continued to collect words and thereby collecting feelings about the words. He decided to share his enormous collection with the wind, allowing it to carry everything he felt about words. He watched children happily collect his words, hopefully spurring them to create their own collections and combinations to share.
The Author
Canadian-born author, storyteller, and illustrator, Peter Reynolds, per his website, has been acclaimed around the globe for his best-selling “stories for all ages” about protecting and nurturing the creative spirit, including the three books in his “Creatrilogy” – The Dot (another favorite of mine), Ish, and Sky Color. Reynold’s also owns an indie bookstore in Boston called The Blue Bunny Books and Toys. Launch in 1996, he and his identical twin brother, Paul, founded an award-winning children’s media company, FableVision, Inc.
I appreciate Reynold’s themes and illustrations. He seems to have mastered making abstract ideas very tangible for little minds. I was encouraged to share his weekly read-aloud and draw sessions throughout the nationwide shutdown. His relatability was needed for the children and their parents.
Hopefully, you will find one of Peter Reynold’s books to share with your child or a child in your life. You will be so glad that you did!
Get love. Give love.
The Ready Writer 