So begins “The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors” by Drew Daywalt. This book is sure to make it onto many young readers’ favorite book lists.
Daywalt introduces his readers to Rock, a warrior looking for an opponent who can truly battle him. He meets many challengers in the backyard, but none can beat him. Meanwhile Paper and Scissors are looking for their own worthy challengers. All three set out on their own journeys to find someone who can possibly truly challenge them.
The three meet, and the battle begins. “‘Round and ’round they went, in the most massive and epic three-way battle of all time!” Who will be victorious….Rock, Paper, or Scissors?
This book is hilarious and amazing and I highly recommend it. Any child (or adult) who has played rock, paper, scissors will delight in this legend. I will definitely be giving copies of this book to several young readers in my life.
I recently turned to social media for book recommendations that took place in the Pacific Northwest. I was traveling to Seattle and wanted a good book for the plane with ties to where I was going. I looked through the recommendations I received and saw a Holly Goldberg Sloan book, “Finding Lost.” I had no idea she had a book that took place in the PNW but I was thrilled to dive in.
I would read anything Holly Goldberg Sloan wrote. Literally anything. Her voice, storytelling approach, word choices…she pulls the readers into her story because it feels real. You will read her books and feel like a good friend is telling you their personal story. You will be invested in their story, you will know these characters, you will laugh with them, you will identify with them, you will think of them as friends.
I boarded the plane, opened my book and couldn’t put it down. Hours later I was looking out the window, finished book in hand, still thinking about those characters. In “Finding Lost” we meet Cordy Jenkins who lives on the Oregon coast in the “boat house” of a large property where her mother is the property caretaker. Her father died in a boating accident and her mother is saving for a new beginning away from Oregon, the one place Cordy and her brother have called home. Cordy finds a hungry lost dog who she brings home. Her mom, who doesn’t want a dog, tells Cordy and her brother they will find the dog’s home. This little dog, who they name Lost, wins all of their hearts and guides their new beginning in an unlikely place, right there on the Oregon coast.
Now here is the reason I love Holly Goldberg Sloan books for readers of all ages. There are the obvious reasons–I love her stories, I love her characters, but what I really love are these passages that make me think. I’ve texted photos of passages from every one of her books to friends. Her words, while written appropriately for children, will give readers of all ages something to think about. I remember in one of her previous books she wrote about photo albums and how they tell one family member’s perspective. I still think about that today.
I can’t recommend this book enough. Definitely check out “Finding Lost.” If you haven’t read “Short” read that one too (it’s one of my all-time favorites). Just save her name, and when you see a book she’s written, read it. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.
Earlier this week, I posted a photo on social media of a page from my favorite picture books, Tasha Tudor’s “A Time to Keep: The Tasha Tudor Book of Holidays.” I’ve revisited this book more times than I can count and when I opened it earlier this week to look at the February section, I was immediately pulled back in.
Tasha Tudor takes readers through the year, month by month. She makes the ordinary beautiful, special, and memorable. As a small child, I dreamed of climbing inside those pages, helping to make maple syrup, playing with the corgis, putting on plays in the carriage house, making candles for the upcoming year.
What I didn’t realize when I read this book when I was small, is that I learned from these pages that there is beauty in our own special traditions. They don’t have to be fancy or expensive; they just have to be meaningful to us. Celebrating these things as a family make us look forward to them.
While my family’s traditions look different than the ones in Tasha Tudor’s beautiful illustrations, I realize how important those rituals are to my family. I realize now that the way we talk about the year ahead and what we look forward to, stems from that book. Not that we are imitating what we see in the book, but rather that we look forward to our own traditions and how we make them special. I learned the value of tradition from those pages.
While I wouldn’t trade our traditions for someone else’s, I would still love to climb into that book and experience Tasha Tudor’s world. If you haven’t read this beautiful picture book, please check it out. It is honestly the most beautiful illustrations of family tradition (and if someone can figure out how to make a lit birthday cake float down a river like it does in the book, please share because I think I need to add that tradition).
