Have you ever slept outside on a hot summer night? / Everything looks different / in the moon's strange light. So begins Have You Ever Done That?, a playful and poetic challenge to young children to observe the beauty and mystery of the world around them. Julie Larios uses soothing rhythms and whimsy to spur a child's imagination, while Anne Hunter's watercolors breathe life into the poet's words.
| |||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
reS-Gr 3-Beginning and ending with a child sleeping under a star-filled sky, protected by a canopy of trees, this beautifully patterned and paced text takes readers on a trip into the imaginative dreams of children. It starts with the question: "Have you ever slept outside on a hot summer night?" A child replies no, but he has done something different, and he continues the pattern with the question, "Have you ever done that?" The answer is always no, but there is also always something else each child has done that is equally engaging. One may have "picked up a corn snake" or "Flown with wings" or "Nursed a baby bird." The opening illustration of the first child sleeping immediately makes the connection with dreaming, and it's confirmed at the end as readers are urged to "stretch your wings in the moon's strange light" and join this flight of fancy. Hunter's watercolor-and-ink illustrations create a cozy, inviting place in which anything is possible, yet all seems grounded in the world around us. The lilting rhyming text perfectly combines things possible and improbable. Its direct address makes it a perfect read-aloud or a candidate for reader's theater. Pair this with Elinor Horwitz's When the Sky Is Like Lace (HarperCollins, 1987) for a cozy, fanciful storytime.
Jane Marino, Scarsdale Public Library, NY
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Authors
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dream of Wonderful Possibilities.....,
This review is from: Have You Ever Done That? (Hardcover)
"Have you ever slept outside on a hot summer night?/Everything looks different/in the moon's strange light./The trees seem to whisper/so you bravely whisper back./Outside at night./Have you ever done that?" Each beautifully poetic question is answered "I've never...", and then continues on with "but I've..." From riding in a storm tossed boat, to picking up a snake, and nursing a sick baby bird, to flying out across the river on a rope swing "...and I knew that the water/was deep and cold and black./And I still let go./Have you ever done that?" Julie Larios explores the small wonders, possibilities, and accomplishments of a preschooler's world in this lovely and evocative picture book. Her rhyming text is full of imagery and magic, and complemented by Anne Hunter's beautiful watercolor illustrations, in quiet, subdued tones that send imaginations soaring. With its soothing, lyrical cadence, Have You Ever Done That? is perfect for lulling little ones to sleep at bedtime. "When the river is deep/and the corn snakes pause,/when the wild waves call/and the wounded crow caws,/Just stretch your wings/in the moon's strange light./You can start by sleeping out on a hot summer night."
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Captivating,
By
This review is from: Have You Ever Done That? (Hardcover)
What a beautiful book. So simple in its essence, but so engaging. I found myself leaning back and closing my eyes and escaping to the world were the " wind [was] at my back" and I could fly "with wings". A perfect book for little ones and for grown-ups who need to slow down!
5.0 out of 5 stars
beautiful peaceful book honoring nature,
By cambridge reader "cambridgearea" (cambridge, ma United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Have You Ever Done That? (Hardcover)
This is one of my favorite children's books. So understated, but with a peaceful message about enjoying nature. My 3 y.o daughter loves it. the text is lyrical and spare, but manages to conjure up a very rich world you want to jump right in to. A very soothing bedtime read.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Inside This Book
(learn more)
First Sentence:
Have you ever slept outside on a hot summer night? }} Read the first page New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Have you ever slept outside on a hot summer night? }} Read the first page New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
