Tuesday, March 14, 2017

#SOL17 I Wish You More 14/31

2017 is the tenth year of the Slice of Life Story Challenge hosted by Two Writing Teachers, The goal is to write and post a "slice of life" story every day during the month of March. My seventh graders are also participating in a slimmed down version of the challenge, writing 10 slices during the month.

Slice of Life: I Wish You More


Incredible person and children's author Amy Krouse Rosenthal passed away yesterday from cancer. (You can read an article about her here or her recent NYT post here.) Like many teachers have already been sharing, her work meant a lot to me and my students. Looking back over my blog, I can find nearly a dozen posts where I talked about her books. (She also has some amazing books for adults, including her memoir and journal-style books.)


Amy Krouse Rosenthal was the chosen picture book author for The Global Read Aloud in 2015, so my third graders and I read and devoured many of her books. Her books are filled with amazing puns, creative word play, and heartfelt life lessons. Amy even made a video about kindness that she shared with all the GRA kids. One of my favorite activities we did was creating our own version of The OK Book, complete with our own illustrations. You can see some of their work here.


But, by far, my favorite book of hers for children is I Wish You More. This incredible picture book is filled with wonderful wishes for any child, matched by both charming and hilarious illustrations. (And, as a bonus, you order personalized copies of the book. I bought one for my nephew, and not only does it include his name within the text, but his name is worked into many of the illustrations in creative and endearing ways.)

Chronicle Books recently wrote a post about Amy that included a printable card for wishing more for others. Check out #loveforamykrouserosenthal for more.


May Amy inspire all of us to wish the best for each other and to celebrate all of life's small moments.

(Click here to read my previous Slice of Life Challenge posts.)

17 comments:

  1. I didn't know you could get a book personalized like that. I'm going to look into that!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This one in particular was SO well done, I highly recommend it.

      Delete
  2. I love what your students created for their version of The OK book.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Heidi! They really enjoyed the irony/sarcasm side of the book too.

      Delete
  3. I have always loved her books as well but until recently, had no idea of the amazing depth and complexity of her work as an artist, and her spirit as a human being. Thanks for sharing her inspiration with all of us.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Exactly. Sharing her video about kindness with my students last year was so special.

      Delete
  4. Such a loss to this world! I loved AKR's books and her kind, sweet spirit. She will be sorely missed. :(

    ReplyDelete
  5. I loved her work so much. It is so sad that she is gone. Her NYT article about her husband made me cry. She will be missed.

    https://tammysreadinglife.wordpress.com/

    ReplyDelete
  6. A beautiful tribute!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Lovely tribute to a gentle spirit an soul. I'd like to have my students study her work and make their own OK books, too! Thanks so much!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I wrote about Amy today, too. She impacted so many people with her joie de vivre, didn't she?! I was inspired to make an Animoto about "17 Things I Made" from her 2008 The Beckoning of Lovely project. I also just ordered "I Love You More" because I didn't have it. I had 4 or 5 other books of hers in my collection, though. It's just so sad...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How cool that she inspired you to action too. I Love You More is such a precious book.

      Delete
  9. Such a loss, what an amazing creative being she was. I had no idea about the personalized books, will definitely plan on doing that. Already filling my Amazon cart with any of the books that I don't already have of hers.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I really only know her by I Wish You More - love that book, gave it to my mentee a few years ago so she could share it with her students. I'm excited to check out The OK Book, and after seeing your student samples, I def want it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The OK book is so fun! My students were also obsessed with Duck Rabbit and many of her punny stories.

      Delete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...