I’ll be honest, I don’t usually have a specific bedtime read for my babies for the 4th of July like I do for other holidays. However, thanks to the Twitterverse and my addiction to books, I discovered I already had purchased the perfect book earlier this summer– Blue Sky White Stars, written by Sarvinder Naberhaus and illustrated by Kadir Nelson.
Now, I realize you’re probably thinking, if its so perfect for Independence Day, why is she telling me about it now, after July 4th? Well, although the book is perfect for the 4th, it is not exclusive to that holiday. Trust me, it’s not like you would be reading The Polar Express in June.
Blue Sky White Stars is a poetic tribute to the American flag and can be read at any time of year. It does not have many words in the book at all, but the words that are written by Sarvinder Naberhaus are powerful. Speaking of powerful, the illustrations in this book are AMAZING. I’ve been a fan of Kadir Nelson’s work for a long time (see: Henry’s Freedom Box or Abe’s Honest Words), but I was still in awe over these pictures. Both of my children were in amazed as well, so even though it took mere seconds to read the words on each page, we stared at the illustrations quite a bit longer. Here are two illustrations from the book:
Blue Sky White Stars is a great short read that can spark some great conversations with your children about the flag, America, and the power of wonderful illustrations. Although this time we did not have a lot of conversations about the words, this is definitely a book I look forward to rereading with my children as they get older!
Enjoy!
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Raising Readers... 