December 2, 2010
Book Tour: Red in the Flower Bed by Andrea Nepa
by Chasity
Red in the Flower Bed marks two firsts for me. 1.) The first childrens title I've read on Kindle and online 2.) Experiencing the unique illustration style.The first is just about self-explanatory. I will say that Online vs. Kindle (black and white)- Online wins hands down but a physical copy is always ideal.
Two, the illustrations are a treasure. Why? As a mom I try to tell my children stories from scratch. Scratch meaning no books just my own creation told orally with voice fluctuation, hand gestures, etc. Be it a true memory, complete fiction or a mix of the two. The purpose is to have my daughters exercise their imagination. I want them to dream up on their own.
Red in the Flower Bed's illustrations are a simple treat and reinforces what I'm trying to instill by orally telling stories. The illustrations are just enough to attract/engage attention but gave my daughters freedom to generate their own thoughts. They were not bombarded with too much happenings on the page- not that plentiful is bad but a nice mix of book types is sure to please. The illustration style is a combination of scrap-booking and arts & crafts. Overall, one of the main highlight of this book.
Then there is the moral of this story which is mentioned above: Interracial adoption. Loving and embracing diversity. At the end of the story I ask my girls: "What would be more dazzling? A garden with only blue flowers or a garden with all sorts of colors?" I mentioned a few local gardens in our area and spoke about different flowers and what's so special about each one. Since my girls are comprehensive and inquisitive taking the discussion to the next level and talking about how it relates to people was a great extension. I suggest if your child is young just a brief mention of the moral or just sticking to the garden will serve as an introduction that can later be built upon.
Red in the Flower Bed not only has a valuable message that we must share with our little ones but it also has a number of extensions that I am able to implement to either extend the moral of the story, learn about plant growth or just have fun. Which we did have fun. My 6 yo daughter made this drawing:
All in all, I found this poem book with illustrations a delight. The poem is easy to pick up on that the second and third time reading through my children were recalling from memory the sentence endings.
Thank you to Tribute Books for the opportunity to review this title and be apart of the book tour. The pleasure was all mine and my girls.
Purchase this book:
Amazon / Smashwords / Tribute Books / Barnes&Noble.com
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