A Picture Book a Day for a Year: Day 124

Picture Book: Little Flower: A Journey of Caring

Author: Laura McAndrew

Illustrator: Nancy Conrad

Summary: Little Flower is a potted daisy whose home is on a kitchen window ledge. Too often, Little Flower’s family forgets to care for her. What she wishes most is for someone to spend time with her and love her.  When her family leaves on a trip, they say goodbye and promise to see her again soon. Little Flower becomes more lonely, scared, sad, and unhealthy. She even begins to feel shame and fears they left her because she has been a bad flower. Despite her shame, when a robin discovers her and asks if she is ok, Little Flower bravely says no and explains. The robin promises to go for help. A “nice woman” brings a police officer to enter the house. The nice woman explains to Little Flower, “Some people haven’t learned how to give flowers what they need. I will help the people you live with learn how to care for flowers. But until they learn that, you need to live in a place where other people can give you what you need.” Then she takes Little Flower to another home where a family begins to properly and lovingly take care of the daisy.   

Hanna’s Comments: This book was given to my family several years ago when we began doing emergency foster care. As an extended metaphor for too many foster children who are neglected and forgotten by their families, it is very powerful and offers specific concepts that can be helpful. We used this book to help my 2 young children understand why the foster children were coming into our homes temporarily. In the back is a list of activities to do after reading to encourage children to process the concepts and emotions of this story.  

Publisher & Date of Publication: Child Welfare League of America, 1999

Age & Grade Appropriateness: 4 and up, Pre and up

# of Pages: 40

Available in Spanish? Not at present

Formats other than Book: None at present

PBT Category: Pre 2K

PBT Topics this Book Connects with: adoption, anxiety/worry, babies/children, belonging, brokenness, caring/tending, care of creation, challenges, community, dependence/interdependence, difficulties, disappointment, drink/thirst, dying, family, found, flowers/leaves/trees, fruit/fruit of the spirit, healing/healthcare, hiding/isolation/walls, hope, insecurity, intercession, loneliness, love, neglect, new home/relocation, nurturing, orphans, outreach, parables/stories, patience, perseverance, poverty, prisons/prisoners, renewal/restoration, rescue, resurrection, waiting, water

Scripture Connections: Bring justice to the fatherless (Isaiah 1:17); whoever welcomes a child in my name welcomes me (Matthew 18:5); let the children come to me (Mark 10:13-16)

Idea(s) for Application: This book also lends itself well as a metaphor for taking in abandoned or abused animals. Consider using this book in your faith community when talking about welcoming and caring for any of God’s creatures in your home.

A Picture Book a Day for a Year: Day 109

Picture Book: Building Our House

Author & Illustrator: Jonathan Bean

Summary: This is such a wonderfully detailed picture book about the process in which the author’s parents build his childhood home. Living the life of homesteaders, they use traditional construction techniques and involve even the youngest child in a manner that is intriguing and delightful. Readers get to see each of the numerous and exhausting steps, beginning with their arrival in an overloaded truck at a weedy field to their eventual collapse onto their couch in the newly finished home. Friends and family pitch in when needed, but mostly this is a 4-person family affair with mother and father Bean starring as the heroes of their son’s loving retelling of what must have been an invaluable childhood experience.

Hanna’s Comments: I was most fascinated by the way the Bean family built the foundation of their home. After picking up hundreds of rocks from their field, they built the wooden form and then mixed and poured the concrete which included as one of its contents the earlier rocks. This part of the story lends itself well to the idea of building on a firm foundation. Seeing these illustrations will help children understand why that principle is so crucial. You may want to begin the reading by showing your audience the family photographs that the author includes. Look in the back surrounding the Author’s Note which explains how this book is grounded in his family’s story.

Publisher & Date of Publication: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2013

Age & Grade Appropriateness: 3 and up, Pre and up                                                        

# of Pages: 48 

Available in Spanish? Not at present  

Formats other than Book: Tablet, Audible, Video 

PBT Category: Award Winner, Fresh off the Press, Non-fiction

PBT Topics this Book Connects with: abundance/bounty, action, adventure, affection, beginnings/morning, blessings, challenges, change, comfort, commitment, dreams/aspiration, family, fathers, feasting/food/hunger/nutrition, generosity/giving/offering/stewardship, gifts/giftedness/talents, gratitude/thankfulness/thanksgiving, helping, heritage, home, image of God, joy, labor/work, land/mountains/soil, milestones, mothers, new home/relocation, nurturing, parents/parental love, participation, partners/teamwork, perseverance, power, preparation/preparing, protecting/protection, rocks/shells/stones, safe place/sanctuary, satisfaction, strength/strength in God, time/timing/over time, transformation, unity, wisdom 

Scripture Connections: The Lord is my rock (Psalm 18:2); Build your house on rock not sand (Matthew 7:24-27); like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation (1 Corinthians 3:9-15)

Idea(s) for Application: This would be a wonderful book to read to children who are homeschooled or in a private school where a construction project is in process. Use this event and wonderful picture book to inspire discussion about what your spiritual community views as the components of a “firm foundation” or a “safe sanctuary.”

A Picture Book a Day for a Year: Day 32

Picture Book: Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

Author & Illustrator: Virginia Lee Burton

Summary: Mike and his steam shovel, Mary Anne, are hard workers, but modern machines begin to replace them. Mike takes his beloved mechanical partner to Popperville where a cellar for a new City Hall needs to be built quickly. Mary Anne is able, with much encouragement from on-lookers, to dig the cellar in a day. However, an exit strategy is forgotten. A young fan suggests that Mary Anne & Mike transform into a furnace & janitor for the new building.

Hanna’s Comments: This modern classic is a testament to partnership, hard work, and adaptation to change. With so much fast-paced change in our world, this book can be a comfort to those who remember the book from long ago, and it will delight new readers.

Publisher & Date of Publication: Houghton Mifflin, 1939

Age and Grade Appropriateness: 4 and up, Pre and up

# of Pages: 56

Available in Spanish? Yes

Formats other than Book: tablet, video, audio CD, Audible

PBT Category: Classic

PBT Topics this Book Connects with: abilities, action, adaptation/assimilation, aging, call/calling/vocation, caring/tending, challenges, change, commitment, community, companionship, confidence, dependence/interdependence, encouragement, gifts/giftedness/talents, labor/work, mission, mistake, new home/relocation, partners/teamwork, perseverance, power, problems/problem solving, purpose, strength/strength in God, time/timing/over time, transformation, vision

Scripture Connections: Honoring the aged (Exodus 20:12, 22:22-24; Leviticus 19:32; Proverbs 23:22)

Idea(s) for Application: a presentation on valuing the aged & helping them recognize their gifts & discover new ways to contribute