Is a Book a Box for Words?

by Harriet Ziefert, Mercè Galí (Illustrator)

Overview

A STEAM-centered exploration of boxes to spark scientific inquiry in a fun and engaging way!

There are so many types and uses for boxes, it’s time to think of as many as we can. In this entertaining book with rhyming text, young children are invited to explore all the different boxes we find in our lives and what they are used for. With a little investigation, boxes are found in so many shapes and have so many uses: from carrying fruit or playing hopscotch, to a house for bees, or a case for a guitar. What constitutes a box? What size is it? What fits inside? What is it used for? Endless amount of discussion will result from this book, and even the titular question will get kids thinking. A perfect book to initiate early-years scientific inquiry in a fun and inventive way and set children on the path to thinking critically, creatively, and reflectively.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781636551265
Publisher:	Red Comet Press
Publication date:	10/08/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	34
File size:	47 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Harriet Ziefert is a former elementary school teacher from New Jersey. A graduate of Smith College, she also holds an MA in education from NYU. She is the bestselling author of more than 250 children’s books and has developed easy-to-read series for several major publishing houses. As founder of Blue Apple Books, she has published over 500 titles, many of which have become bestselling modern classics. Harriet Ziefert continues to create and publish books from her home in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Mercè Galí is an illustrator from Barcelona. She grew up surrounded by stories in her parents’ bookstore and studied illustration and fine arts at the University of Barcelona, specializing in engraving. She mainly illustrates children’s books for a number of publishing houses in various countries. Her books have been recognized at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair and her project, Petit Indi, was a finalist in the Silent Book competition. Mercè Galí lives and works in Barcelona, Spain.

Editorial Reviews

07/22/2024

Boxes’ forms and uses inspire Ziefert’s up-tempo rhymes, which celebrate the box’s amorphous ubiquity in this playful conceptual picture book. Humorous descriptions (“Soup boxes/ poop boxes”—the latter as used by a cat) mingle with standard observations (“Boxes store./ Boxes pour”) and slyly pointed phrases (“Plastic bins—almost forever—Scientists are way too clever!”). Adding a contemporary stylishness to the lines, Galí’s illustrations combine photos with simple calligraphic sketches, featuring casually repeating figures including an electric pink bear. Categorizations eventually take on a wondering tone with questions (“If a hangar is a box for a plane,/ Is a head a box for a brain?”), leading up to the titular query. It’s an investigation of the cubic for readers of all ages. Ages 5–8. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

An intriguing title sparks a host of connections and associations .. . Ziefert’s book evokes Mary Ann Hoberman and Betty Fraser’s classic A House Is a House for Me. Halfway through, the text switches from assertions to interrogatives (the preferred sentence form for many Ziefert books). . . the author offers plenty of food for thought; young dreamers will have plenty to mull. The inventive book art combines photo elements with neon color and a lively black linework that changes in thickness for pleasing variety. A bright pink bear with an elongated snout and tiny toes appears in several illustrations; the few human figures are amusingly cartoonish and vary in skin tone. Eye-catching inspiration to encourage out-of-the-box thinking.(Picture book. 5-8)—Kirkus Reviews

"Boxes’ forms and uses inspire Ziefert’s up-tempo rhymes, which celebrate the box’s amorphous ubiquity in this playful conceptual picture book. Humorous descriptions mingle with standard observations and slyly pointed phrases adding a contemporary stylishness to the lines, Galí’s illustrations combine photos with simple calligraphic sketches, featuring casually repeating figures including an electric pink bear. Categorizations eventually take on a wondering tone leading up to the titular query. It’s an investigation of the cubic for readers of all ages."–Publishers Weekly
—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

2024-07-04
An intriguing title sparks a host of connections and associations.

Boxes are everywhere: on doorsteps, thanks to online shopping; in our cupboards and fridges, as foodstuffs. Boxes of all sizes hold clothes and toys. They house people in glass towers and animals in crates or sometimes shoe boxes. Money, fishing tackle, and even planes, bees, and brains can be said to be kept in boxes. Stringed instruments can be boxes that hold music; games of hopscotch and foursquare are played within chalk drawings made up of boxes. Ziefert’s book evokes Mary Ann Hoberman and Betty Fraser’s classicA House Is a House for Me. Halfway through, the text switches from assertions to interrogatives (the preferred sentence form for many Ziefert books). But this one never answers the title query. It never hints that a book can be so much more than words. Still, the author offers plenty of food for thought; young dreamers will have plenty to mull. Though sometimes strained, the rhymes mostly work, but random jumps in rhythm and meter will keep readers on their toes. The inventive book art combines photo elements with neon color and a lively black linework that changes in thickness for pleasing variety. A bright pink bear with an elongated snout and tiny toes appears in several illustrations; the few human figures are amusingly cartoonish and vary in skin tone.

Eye-catching inspiration to encourage out-of-the-box thinking.(Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews