Imagine!

Colon, Raul. Imagine! new York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2018.

When telling the story of a wordless book, it can sometimes be challenging. The story I see in the pictures may not be the same as the story you see which may not be the same story the illustrator had in mind when he created the pictures. Raul Colon includes his background story in the Author’s Note at the end of this picture book.

The book opens with a young boy leaving his home with his skateboard in hand and his helmet on his head. He skates through the city. When he arrives in front of the Museum of Modern Art, he decides to check it out. The paintings come alive for him. The three paintings focused on are: Three Musicians by Pablo Picasso, The Sleeping Gypsy by Henri Rousseau, and Icarus by Henri Matisse. What follows are what can happen in a child’s imagination – what if the characters came alive out of the painting, what if they could follow him through the city. The story closes with the boy leaving the museum to go and create his own art using the characters from the art he viewed.

Raul Colon’s illustrations do a fabulous job of telling the story. They are well done and pleasing to look at. I would say that Imagine! is a contender for the Caldecott award.

Language arts teachers could use this book as a starting point for story writing – have students write the story of what they see. Art teachers could, after sharing this book, show some famous works and encourage their students to create their own storyboard or picture book based on the famous works.

Since the book was published this year, classroom teachers or librarians may want to include this title in their Mock Caldecott units. I know I will be. I will also be adding this book to our wordless book collection.

I recommend adding Imagine! to your library. Thank you for using my affiliate link which helps support this children’s literature blog.