The Important Book [Paperback]

Margaret Wise Brown (Author), Leonard Weisgard (Illustrator)

Book Description

Release date: May 19, 1999 | Age Range: 4 - 8 years | Lexile Measure: 580L (What's this?)

The important thing about The Important Book -- is that you let your child tell you what is important about the sun and the moon and the wind and the rain and a bug and a bee and a chair and a table and a pencil and a bear and a rainbow and a cat (if he wants to). For the important thing about The Important Book is that the book goes on long after it is closed.What is most important about many familiar things -- like rain and wind, apples and daisies -- is suggested in rhythmic words and vivid pictures. 'A perfect book . . . the text establishes a word game which tiny children will accept with glee.' -- K.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"The important thing about rain is/ that it is wet./ It falls out of the sky,/ and it sounds like rain,/ and makes things shiny,/ and it does not taste like anything,/ and is the color of air./ But the important thing about rain is that it is wet."

Goodnight Moon creator Margaret Wise Brown's The Important Book is a deceptively simple exercise--taking familiar things like an apple, spoon, or shoe, and finding the most basic association with those things. The most important thing about an apple? It is round. A spoon? You eat with it. A shoe? You put your foot in it. But why, according to Brown, is the most important thing about grass "that it is green," while the most important thing about an apple is "that it is round"? Why is "that it is white" the most important thing about snow and a daisy? Whether or not you'd distill these things in the same way that the author does, Brown makes us think about the essence of everyday entities in new ways. The illustrations, by Caldecott Medal winner Leonard Weisgard (The Little Island), perform the same function--capturing the spoonness of spoons, the roundness of an apple, the motion of wind.

Happily, Brown went on to create the companion Another Important Book, about the importance of being one, two, three, four, five, and six years old--published for the first time in 1999 with fabulous artwork by Caldecott Honor artist Chris Raschka (Yo! Yes?). Both of Brown's "important books" will endure the test of time as fresh, thought-provoking ways to examine the world around us. (Click to see a sample spread. Text copyright renewed 1977 by Roberta Brown Rauch. Illustrations copyright renewed 1977 by Leonard Weisgard. Permission from HarperCollins Publishers.) (Preschool and older) --Karin Snelson --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Few writers have been as attuned to the concerns and emotions of childhood as Margaret Wise Brown (1910-1952). A graduate of Hollins College and the progressive Bank Street College of Education, she combined her literary aspirations with the study of child development. Her unique ability to see the world through a child's eyes is unequaled. Her many classic books continue to delight thousands of young listeners and readers year after year.

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Muy pocos escritores de literatura infantil han logrado captar las emociones e inquietudes de la niñez como Margaret Wise Brown (1910-1952). Sus numerosos y ya clásicos libros y grabaciones continúan deleitando a lectores y oyentes de todas las edades.

Product Details

• Age Range: 4 - 8 years
  
• Paperback: 24 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins (May 19, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0064432270
• ISBN-13: 978-0064432276
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.1 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,595 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #83 in Books > Children's Books > Classics

More About the Author

Margaret Wise Brown wrote hundreds of books and stories during her life, but she is best known for Goodnight Moon and Runaway Bunny. Even though she died over 45 years ago, her books still sell very well. Margaret loved animals. Most of her books have animals as characters in the story. She liked to write books that had a rhythm to them. Sometimes she would put a hard word into the story or poem. She thought this made children think harder when they are reading. She wrote all the time. There are many scraps of paper where she quickly wrote down a story idea or a poem. She said she dreamed stories and then had to write them down in the morning before she forgot them. She tried to write the way children wanted to hear a story, which often isn't the same way an adult would tell a story. She also taught illustrators to draw the way a child saw things. One time she gave two puppies to someone who was going to draw a book with that kind of dog. The illustrator painted many pictures one day and then fell asleep. When he woke up, the papers he painted on were bare. The puppies had licked all the paint off the paper. Margaret died after surgery for a bursting appendix while in France. She had many friends who still miss her. They say she was a creative genius who made a room come to life with her excitement. Margaret saw herself as something else - a writer of songs and nonsense.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 62 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Provocative on Purpose June 12, 2006

By birdie

Format:Paperback

Hi, I just read the review below from the infuriated reader who said that this book talks down to children.

But once I went to a talk about children's books and they discussed this book and said that Margaret Wise Brown was not doing that at all. That the intent of the book is actually to invite kids to debate and have their own opinions. She sets up these statements on purpose to provoke, and to get kids to think for themselves. She's playing with the reader because of course, how CAN you say that a daisy is important 'because it is white'? It's also yellow in the middle, and has petals, or whatever. Same with an apple. She says it's important because 'it is round' but what about because it's sweet? Or juicy? The whole joke is that she's announcing 'what's important' about something in order to invite thought and prompt argument. Her other stories reveal too much depth for her to have really been trying to control kids' minds with the 'important book.'

50 of 52 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for the beginning of the school year! July 19, 2001

By "lcjmom"

Format:Paperback

I use this book at a "getting to know you" starter for the 1st day of school. After reading the book, the students start to see the pattern. I then have them write something about themselves using the same pattern in the book. "The most important thing about Sue is that she likes to read. Sue has 3 cats, plays soccer and can pitch like Nolan Ryan, but the most important thing about Sue is that she likes to read." I then have them illustrate these things on manilla paper or with the computer, then bind all of the pages into a class book. The kids love getting to know each other this way.

60 of 66 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Teach the"Main Idea" August 4, 2001

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

We use this selection to teach the concept of the main idea. I start the entire year off using this book. I read the book aloud to the students.We discuss each aspect of the important or the main idea of each subject.After completing the book we then write a page about ourselves. Example: The important thing about Ellis is that he is a toehead,he loves computer games , he plays with his trucks and he always wears Carharts,but the important thing about Ellis is that he is a toehead. Ellis is a student that has the whitest hair you have ever seen...everyone always says something to him about his "toehead". The children (usually third graders) each do their own page and we publish our book for the classroom. We try to have this completed by our open house. The parents really enjoy it and they get to know their childs classmates in a special way. Just a thought!