Green

Seeger, Laura Vaccaro. Green. New York: Roaring Brook Press, 2012.

This week I was able to get two lessons into one with Laura Seeger’s book Green. This is the time of year when I talk about Caldecott books with all of my elementary students. Green gives me an opportunity to talk about concept books as well. Green has none of the usual literary elements – no plot, no setting, no characters. Seeger teaches the concept of “green” in this simple book. She describes different shades of green in just two words on each two-page spread. Her illustrations focus on that shade of green.

I also use this book as an example for a book-writing activity I do with my primary classes. With my kinder classes we do the activity using the color green. I allow my first graders, as a class, to choose 3 colors for the activity. Then each child gets to pick a 2- or 3-word  description of the color which I write at the bottom of a sheet of copy paper. After book check-out each child is given one of they pages and told what words are on the page. They then need to draw a picture to go with the words – illustrate the page they have been given. Once completed I staple the pages into a class book.

Every year when we have our Young Author’s Day I get questions about how the youngest students can write a book. Copying the style of Green is a great way to get even the youngest students writing a book.

If you do not yet  have a copy of Green in your library, it would be a great addition to your concept picture book collection or  your Caldecott collection.

Green is available from Amazon. Thanks for using my affiliate link to help support this Children’s Literature blog.