Archive | November 14, 2020

Wreck This Picture Book

Wreck This Picture Book

Wreck This Picture Book

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wreck This Picture Book

Keri Smith

Puffin, 2020

64pp., hbk., RRP $A24.99

 9780241449455

Wreck This Picture Book seems like an odd title for a book, conjuring up images of scissors, crayons and sticky fingers working their worst. But rather it is an invitation to the reader to not treat a book as a holy grail to be placed under glass or left on the shelf untouched.

“A book becomes more beautiful and alive when it is explored regularly” changing each time the reader reads it because the reader themselves, has changed.  Yesterday’s read might have been in a peaceful calm place with the reader in a tranquil mood; today’s read the exact opposite. To be totally engaged with the story requires being totally engaged with the container it is in so we are encouraged to use all our senses to explore the book from listening to the sounds it makes to taking a deep sniff of its unique smell to leaving a secret message for the next reader.  Because it is what we bring to a book – our beliefs, attitudes, understandings and emotions – that bring it alive for us and make it memorable, or not. 

This book shows our readers that reading is not a passive activity that just involves decoding lines of text, but is one that requires involvement, reading between and beyond the lines not just along them and making connections and conversations.  It inspires you to think about how you read as well as what you read, and see that to-be-read pile as an opportunity for adventures a=plenty.