GIFTS

I thought deeply about what I could write about today, as my cup seems quite empty these days. I keep pushing myself to maintain my writing mojo.

So today, I decided to think about something, anything I could write about. Then I saw this picture book on the shelf as I was leaving my classroom. The title caught my eye, Garden Jungle, an interesting combination of words. I was drawn to it and thought my students would enjoy any book about gardens or jungles, as we are learning about ecosystems. 

I decided to open the book and I had a bit of a shock.

Pages in the book have been intricately cut into outlines of a jungle with the animals in their habitat. It looks like paper doilies but colored to match the jungle. I knew I had found a very special picture book written by Helene Druvert.

The interesting hook was also on the first page where the main character complained of being bored. His mother told him to look outside and that he’d find new things. I am paraphrasing. When I read the page I felt as if I was being spoken to, especially because I could not find anything to write about, until I looked around my classroom and chanced upon this picture book.

Like they say ‘stories are all around us’, we just have to be ready to embrace them. I’m glad I found this book. I will be showing it off to my students in the morning. I am sure some of them have already read it, but now I will read it aloud and connect it with our unit on ecosystems.

We will surely pinch some of the author’s craft moves, as we are collecting those too.